LOS ANGELES - Coral larvae, tiny hair-covered sacs of cells, can "hear" reefs and actually swim toward them, researchers report. The finding suggests that sound is far more important in underwater ecosystem development than previously thought.
Further, marine biologists say, human noise pollution has the potential to block the larvae's ability to seek out nearby reefs and settle there, ultimately harming other marine life.
Coral are tiny sea creatures that build the rocky, often colorful structures that ring islands and can span thousands of miles. In doing so, they provide an important ecological backbone for the world's marine life.
In the study, published online Friday in PLoS One, the researchers analyzed the movement of coral larvae inside tanks, setting up the tanks in the shallow waters. They used loudspeakers to broadcast coral reef sounds from different directions.
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Although humans swimming by a coral reef might hear only the bloop-bloop of their own air bubbles, that's because human ears aren't well suited to hear underwater, said senior author Stephen Simpson, a marine biologist at the University of Bristol. But as fish scrape the surfaces of the reef and communicate with one another through popping noises, snaps, grunts and chirps, they produce "a real cacophony of noise" to other marine life, Simpson said.
The researchers found that the baby coral inevitably swam toward the speakers blaring coral reef sounds.
