The Marine Sensory Biology laboratory focuses on hearing and sound production in marine animals. We study organisms ranging from lobsters and fishes to sea turtles, manatees, and dolphins. Our goal is to understand how organisms use sound in the natural environment and the constraints the environment poses on communication.
Most
marine fishes have planktonic eggs and larvae that could travel far from
the adult habitat into deep water. Recent research has shown that
larval fish are not simply passive drifters, but capable of directed and
extended swimming. There are intriguing data showing that larval
fish can be attracted to speakers broadcasting sound. In this
critical review we lay out a research plan to answer this question.
This plan involves a combination of field studies on larval behavior and
sound fields and laboratory studies of the ability of larval fishes to
detect sounds.
Mann, D.,
