World-first research from Dr Lucille Chapuis has shown that reef fish produce shared acoustic patterns, a discovery that could transform how coral reef health is monitored.
“Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, yet they are declining at an unprecedented rate,” she explains. “One tool for tracking these changes is passive acoustic monitoring, which is the use of underwater microphones to record the natural sounds of reef environments over time.”
Until now, however, acoustic monitoring has been limited by a poor understanding of how fish sounds vary across regions.
“Although more than 34,000 reef fish species exist globally, fewer than 1,000 have had their sounds described. This lack of baseline knowledge has limited the use of sound as a global biodiversity indicator.”
To address this, Dr Chapuis and her team developed an AI-based approach that analyses the patterns and shapes of fish sounds. Using this technology, they were able to analyse 144 hours of underwater recordings from six coral reef systems around the world, detecting and comparing more than 120,000 sounds.
She describes what they discovered as a “universal symphony” of fish calls.
“Despite major differences in geography, species composition and recording conditions, most calls were surprisingly similar,” she says. “This challenges the assumption that reef soundscapes are region-specific and suggests that many fish sounds are shaped by shared biological and physical constraints.”
Dr Chapuis says the findings could change how coral reefs are monitored globally.
“We have also developed a transferable, AI-enabled framework that characterises fish vocalisations based on acoustic patterns rather than species identification,” she says.
“By demonstrating that many reef fish calls share consistent acoustic characteristics across regions, we have shown that underwater sound can be used as a standardised indicator of reef fish communities,” she says.
Future research will focus on identifying a wider range of fish sounds, expanding studies to more reef regions, and linking underwater sound patterns to real ecological changes.
“Ultimately, this will support the long-term monitoring of reef health and conservation programs, helping us track change at a global scale.”
