Biological chorusing and fish calls in Bermuda

Abstract

A series of sea tests and long term passive acoustics monitoring studies have been conducted in Bermuda from 2020–2023. Observations of biological choruses and individual fish call events from sensors in deep water off the flank of the Bermuda Atoll, and alongside shallow sub-tropical reefs, will be discussed. We find striking similarities between sub-tropical Atlantic reefs in Bermuda with documented trends in tropical coral reef soundscapes studies in Hawaii and the tropical Pacific. This observation suggests that evening chorusing and patterns in reef sound and fish calls are potentially pervasive across large portions of the world’s oceans. Deep water calls that appear to be associated with large fish such as groupers were observed on the atoll flank. Evening chorusing at change of light is commonly observed on tropical reefs and also persistent on Bermuda’s sub-tropical reefs. Evening biological chorusing is also evident at deep water sights, indicating that this may not be a strictly littoral biological soundscape feature.