FishSounds: A data-sharing website of global soniferous fish diversity

Abstract

Active fish sound production is geographically and taxonomically widespread—though not homogenous—among fishes, including numerous commercially and recreationally important fisheries species. Despite the ecological importance of fish sounds, their passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) applications, and extensive endeavors to document them, the field of fish bioacoustics has been historically constrained by the lack of an easily accessible, comprehensive inventory of fish sound production. To create such an inventory while simultaneously assessing the global extent of known soniferous fish species, we extracted information from almost 1000 references from the years 1874–2021 to determine that over 900 fish species have been shown to produce active (i.e., intentional) sounds. Our information is collated on the FishSounds website at FishSounds.net along with representative recordings of fish sounds that can be easily searched through and accessed by our users. FishSounds has since launched a new initiative to develop an acoustic catalog for Canadian-specific fisheries species and explore their ecological characteristics, spatial distribution, and taxonomy. The data available on FishSounds can be similarly adapted to meet other regional management needs, facilitate the application of PAM, and aid in the discovery of novel soniferous behaviors across fishes globally.