Air Date: Week of August 29, 2025

It appears that oyster larvae are attracted to the sounds of a healthy reef. (Photo: Petras Gagilas, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

For a taste of what an oyster reef sounds like, an excerpt of a piece by Living on Earth Producer Sophia Pandelidis about the “symphony” of a reef, with snapping shrimp, grunting fish and grazing urchins all part of this underwater orchestra.

Transcript

O’NEILL: By the way, what does an oyster reef sound like? A few years ago, our colleague Sophia Pandelidis reported on how reef soundscapes may help baby oysters settle in a safe place. Here’s a taste.

[SNAPPING SHRIMP SOUNDS]

PANDELIDIS: Snapping shrimp, which hide in the nooks and crannies of reefs, dominate this underwater orchestra.

[SNAPPING SHRIMP CONTINUES]

PANDELIDIS: They create air bubbles that pop by snapping their claws together at roughly 60 miles per hour, making them one of the fastest moving creatures in the animal kingdom.

And while researchers say the shrimp take first chair in the underwater orchestra, other creatures add richness to the symphony.

[FISH SOUNDS]

PANDELIDIS: Fish that purr, grunt, whoop, and even honk make up the brass section.

[FISH SOUNDS]

And grazing urchins, which scrape algae off rocks with their teeth, bring in the percussion.

[GRAZING URCHIN SOUNDS]

 

Links

Journal of Applied Ecology | “Soundscape Enrichment Enhances Recruitment and Habitat Building on New Oyster Reef Restorations”

Journal of Applied Ecology | “The Sound of Recovery: Coral Reef Restoration Success Is Detectable in the Soundscape”