Sound of the Day: Big Mouth Gulf Corvina

Researchers document the loudest sound ever recorded in fish.

Written byThe Scientist and The Scientist Staff
| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share

In this recording, a single male Gulf corvina (Cynoscion othonopterus) sings as he swims past an underwater microphone.

Researchers have carried out auditory surveys of the Gulf corvina, a marine fish that communicates by sound during spawning gatherings. The sound that is collectively produced by a 1.5-million-fish aggregation, the team found, is the loudest ever recorded for fish, and can damage the hearing of other marine animals. But the spectacle is at risk of disappearing, the researchers warn, in part due to overfishing in the region.

B.E. Erisman, T.J. Rowell, “A sound worth saving: Acoustic characteristics of a massive fish spawning aggregation,” Biol Lett, 14:20170656, 2017.

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here
July Digest 2025
July 2025, Issue 1

What Causes an Earworm?

Memory-enhancing neural networks may also drive involuntary musical loops in the brain.

View this Issue
Screening 3D Brain Cell Cultures for Drug Discovery

Screening 3D Brain Cell Cultures for Drug Discovery

Explore synthetic DNA’s many applications in cancer research

Weaving the Fabric of Cancer Research with Synthetic DNA

Twist Bio 
Illustrated plasmids in bright fluorescent colors

Enhancing Elution of Plasmid DNA

cytiva logo
An illustration of green lentiviral particles.

Maximizing Lentivirus Recovery

cytiva logo

Products

The Scientist Placeholder Image

Sino Biological Sets New Industry Standard with ProPure Endotoxin-Free Proteins made in the USA

sartorius-logo

Introducing the iQue 5 HTS Platform: Empowering Scientists  with Unbeatable Speed and Flexibility for High Throughput Screening by Cytometry

parse_logo

Vanderbilt Selects Parse Biosciences GigaLab to Generate Atlas of Early Neutralizing Antibodies to Measles, Mumps, and Rubella

shiftbioscience

Shift Bioscience proposes improved ranking system for virtual cell models to accelerate gene target discovery