Acoustics proves to be a enormously useful tool for science in the ocean.  Because of the physical advantages of sound vs. light transmission in the water, many animals utilize marine acoustics for behavior and ecological needs.  This includes not only marine mammals but many species of fish and invertebrates.  We have developed several projects that will use sound as a key that identifies behavioral as well as monitoring and timing of ecological events.  Along with Dr. Marc Lammers and his Squatter system, I have developed PUA, Portable Underwater Acoustic device.  The PUA (seen at right) is a handheld system that digitally records ambient sound, and stores that information directly to a hard drive. 

Currently the PUA is used to record, later characterize fish sounds.  We concurrently monitor the focal fish's behavior with video and notes.  So far we have used this device to record fish in both Kaneohe Bay, HI and the Azores, Portugal.  Once a particular sound is tied to a particular fish and behavior. We use the Squatter system, to temporally monitor for these events.  In this way, we can passively, remotely,  and acoustically identify ecologically important events such as spawning. 

Below-left is an example of a sound file of the territorial sound of Abudefduf luridus recorded with the PUA system in the Azores.  The Dascyllus albisella sound (below-right) was recorded in Kaneohe HI, also on using the PUA system.

Example 1.                                                  Example 2.