Ocean song can breathe new life into reefs

Dying coral reefs could be revived by luring young fish into the ecosystem using the sounds of healthy reefs, researchers say.

Experts believe that the ‘‘acoustic enrichment’’ could help to restore damaged coral reefs being harmed by the effects of climate change.

The international research team was made up of scientists from the University of Exeter and University of Bristol in England, James Cook University in Queensland, and the Australian Institute

of Marine Science.

Working on devastated sections of the Great Barrier Reef, the team placed loudspeakers underwater and played healthy reef recordings in patches of dead coral.

They found that twice as many fish arrived – and stayed – compared with equivalent patches where no sound was played. It also increased the number of species present by 50 per cent.

The technique works by regenerating the sounds that are lost when reefs are quietened by degradation, according to the findings published in the journal Nature Communications.

Professor Steve Simpson, of Exeter University, said: ‘‘Healthy coral reefs are remarkably noisy places – the crackle of snapping shrimp and the whoops and grunts of fish combine to form a dazzling biological soundscape. Juvenile fish home in on these sounds when they’re looking for a place to settle.’’

Mark Meekan, of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, said attracting fish to a dead reef would not bring it back to life automatically, but the recovery was ‘‘underpinned by fish that clean the reef and create space for corals to regrow’’.