Oyster Reef Soundscapes

In a fun study motivated by our In the Grass, On the Reef colleague Rob Diaz de Villegas at WFSU, we demonstrated that crabs can hear , and they alter their foraging behavior in response to vocalizations from their fish predators the black drum and hardhead catfish (Hughes et al. 2014 Proc Roy Soc B). Surprisingly, the effects of predator acoustic cues on crab foraging were as strong as predator chemical cues. This project sparked public interest - see coverage in the Times of London.pdf, the Washington Post, In the Grass On the Reef, and News @    Northeastern

Drawings by Tanya Rogers.