Researchers at the University of Liverpool are leading a £1 million international research project to investigate whether fish use vibrations travelling through the seabed and other surfaces to communicate and sense their environment.
Dr Louise Roberts, from the University of Liverpool's School of Environmental Sciences, is heading the project, which involves scientists from the University of Rhode Island, the University of Lisbon and the University of Washington. The research team also includes Dr Jordan Burgess, a newly appointed postdoctoral researcher at Liverpool.
What the research will examine
The project, titled "Vibrational sensing and production in fishes: investigations of the underwater vibroscape", will investigate whether fish vocalisations produce vibrations, whether fish respond to vibrations, and how these signals travel through different underwater substrates.
More than 900 fish species are known to produce sounds, including during courtship and aggressive interactions. Many fish produce low-frequency, high-intensity sounds while in direct contact with a surface. The research will explore whether the underwater vibrational environment — known as the vibroscape — forms an important part of the sensory world of fish, alongside the underwater soundscape.
Vibration-based communication and sensing is widespread across the animal kingdom. Elephants use low-frequency vibrations travelling through the ground to communicate over long distances, and insects use vibrations in plant stems to signal to mates. However, relatively little is known about how animals use substrate-borne vibrations in aquatic environments.
Research methods and scope
The team brings together international expertise in biotremology, acoustical oceanography, fish bioacoustics and neurophysiology. Fieldwork will be carried out in the United States and Portugal, alongside laboratory experiments in all four institutes, using advanced experimental and modelling techniques.
The research extends work previously focused on vibrational noise and sensing in marine invertebrates. The project will contribute to the emerging field of marine biotremology — the study of how aquatic organisms produce, transmit and detect mechanical vibrations, and how these vibrations influence behaviour.
Dr Roberts said: "This is a really exciting research project which sits at the forefront of aquatic sensory ecology. We already know that marine invertebrates are highly sensitive to vibrations in the seabed and sediments, but despite the contact of many fishes with these areas, the role of vibrations in fish ecology and communication is unexplored."
She added: "There is every possibility that we will uncover a new mode of communication in fish, and reveal a previously uncharted sensory landscape in marine ecology – the underwater vibroscape."
Funding
The project is supported by a £1 million ($1.35 million) HFSP Research Grant Award from the Human Frontier Science Program, which funds ambitious, interdisciplinary and international research through its Research Grants Program.