Sound production in marbled rockfish (Sebastiscus marmoratus) and implications for fisheries.

Recently, several rockfish species (genus Sebastes) have been reported to be soniferous. To determine whether an additional rockfish species produces sounds, passive acoustic recordings were analyzed from captive marbled rockfish (Sebastiscus marmoratus) during the non-spawning season. Three distinct sounds were identified based on frequency features. The common characteristics among all sounds were low frequency (below 300 Hz) and rapidly dampened pulses consisting of 3-5 acoustic energy cycles. During free-swimming conditions in the canvas tank, the fish produced voluntary sounds with lower frequencies than the disturbance sounds produced by individuals during prodding. Two types of sounds were identified in the disturbance context: one type consists of single or double pulses with two peak frequencies, and another type consists of a series of pulses with a single peak frequency. These results suggest that specific-species and behavior-associated sounds are potentially useful in passive acoustical surveys to monitor rockfish populations and distributions remotely.