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. 2010 May 14;5(5):e10660.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010660.

Coral larvae move toward reef sounds

Mark J A Vermeij  1 , Kristen L Marhaver, Chantal M Huijbers, Ivan Nagelkerken, Stephen D Simpson
Affiliations

Coral larvae move toward reef sounds

Mark J A Vermeij et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Free-swimming larvae of tropical corals go through a critical life-phase when they return from the open ocean to select a suitable settlement substrate. During the planktonic phase of their life cycle, the behaviours of small coral larvae (<1 mm) that influence settlement success are difficult to observe in situ and are therefore largely unknown. Here, we show that coral larvae respond to acoustic cues that may facilitate detection of habitat from large distances and from upcurrent of preferred settlement locations. Using in situ choice chambers, we found that settling coral larvae were attracted to reef sounds, produced mainly by fish and crustaceans, which we broadcast underwater using loudspeakers. Our discovery that coral larvae can detect and respond to sound is the first description of an auditory response in the invertebrate phylum Cnidaria, which includes jellyfish, anemones, and hydroids as well as corals. If, like settlement-stage reef fish and crustaceans, coral larvae use reef noise as a cue for orientation, the alleviation of noise pollution in the marine environment may gain further urgency.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Overview of the experimental setup.
The position of coral larvae was observed in six Plexiglas tubes that were arranged around three central underwater loudspeakers to control for the effect of other factors that might influence the movement of larvae (e.g., currents, underwater light fields). Coral larvae are not drawn to scale.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Movement of coral larvae towards reef sounds.
(A) The proportion of coral larvae at various distances from speakers playing reef sounds are given as averages of Day 1 and 2 of the experiment (+1SEM). (B) Proportion of larvae at each distance class that were observed against the upper surface of the chambers (i.e., the surface nearest the speakers) when reef sounds were played from above (blue) and sounds were played from aside (light blue). Data are shown as averages from Day 3 of the experiment (+1SEM).
Figure 3
Figure 3. The experimental underwater sound field.
Analysis of RMS power gradients on all three axes of the experimental set-up (see Figure 1) during playback showed a 4.4 dB gradient within the chamber. Recordings were taken at three locations along the apparatus. The gradient in the measurements is near to a cylindrical model of geometric spreading (RL = SL – 10 log (R/Rref)), as expected for shallow water environments, except that instead of a geometric model parameter of 10, the measured value was 11.1 (SEM = 1.4).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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