Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910, USA.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2022 May;151(5):3052. doi: 10.1121/10.0010236.
Four species of grouper (family Epinephlidae), Red Hind (Epinephelus guttatus), Nassau (Epinephelus striatus), Black (Mycteroperca bonaci), and Yellowfin Grouper (Mycteroperca venenosa) share an aggregation site in Little Cayman, Cayman Islands and produce sounds while aggregating. Continuous observation of these aggregations is challenging because traditional diver or ship-based methods are limited in time and space. Passive acoustic localization can overcome this challenge for sound-producing species, allowing observations over long durations and at fine spatial scales. A hydrophone array was deployed in February 2017 over a 9-day period that included Nassau Grouper spawning. Passive acoustic localization was used to find positions of the grouper-produced calls recorded during this time, which enabled the measurement of call source levels and evaluation of spatiotemporal aspects of calling. Yellowfin Grouper had the lowest mean peak-to-peak (PP) call source level, and Nassau Grouper had the highest mean PP call source level (143.7 and 155.2 dB re: 1 μPa at 1 m for 70-170 Hz, respectively). During the days that Nassau Grouper spawned, calling peaked after sunset. Similarly, when Red Hind calls were abundant, calls were highest in the afternoon and evening. The measured source levels can be used to estimate communication and detection ranges and implement passive acoustic density estimation for these fishes.
四种石斑鱼（Epinephelidae 科），红鲷（Epinephelus guttatus）、拿骚石斑鱼（Epinephelus striatus）、黑鳍石斑鱼（Mycteroperca bonaci）和黄鳍石斑鱼（Mycteroperca venenosa）在开曼群岛小开曼岛共享一个聚集区，并在聚集时发出声音。由于传统的潜水员或船舶方法在时间和空间上受到限制，因此对这些聚集区进行连续观察具有挑战性。被动声定位可以克服发声物种的这一挑战，允许长时间和精细的空间尺度进行观察。2017 年 2 月，在为期 9 天的时间里，在一个 9 天的时间里部署了一个水听器阵列，其中包括拿骚石斑鱼产卵。被动声定位用于找到在此期间记录的石斑鱼产生的叫声的位置，从而能够测量叫声的声源级并评估叫声的时空方面。黄鳍石斑鱼的平均峰值到峰值（PP）叫声源级最低，而拿骚石斑鱼的平均 PP 叫声源级最高（分别为 143.7 和 155.2 dB re：1 μPa 在 1 m 处为 70-170 Hz）。在拿骚石斑鱼产卵的日子里，叫声在日落后达到峰值。同样，当红鲷叫声丰富时，下午和晚上的叫声最高。测量的声源级可用于估计这些鱼类的通讯和检测范围，并实施被动声密度估计。
