The acoustic response of snapping shrimp to synthetic impulsive acoustic stimuli between 50 and 600Hz.

Abstract

There is growing concern that the noise from human activities in water may impact the detection and production of sound by aquatic animals. Snapping shrimp are sound producing crustaceans and their sound has biological and ecological importance. This paper investigated the effects of pulsed stimuli upon the acoustic behavior of these animals. Changes in snap frequency and duration were assessed before, during and after playbacks and at different levels. Acoustic analysis showed that the duration of the snaps increased significantly during playbacks, whereas the snap peak frequency significantly decreased compared to before and after exposure. Data also showed that when exposed to a sound pressure level equal and above to 130 re 1 μPa (computed particle motion 2.06×10-06 m/s), shrimp responded acoustically. The results suggested that the pulsed acoustic stimuli triggered a behavioral response that included more snapping from bigger animals and movements away from the source.