About FishSounds

FishSounds presents a compilation of acoustic recordings and published information on sound production across all extant fish species globally. We hope this information can be used to advance research into fish behavior, passive acoustic monitoring, and human impacts on underwater soundscapes as well as serve as a public resource for anyone interested in learning more about fish sounds.

Our next major update will be to add a user system for recording and data submissions, add several other website features, and update the base dataset to include anything published since our last data update and any additional references we have discovered from prior years.

About Our Data

Our dataset includes information published up until December 31, 2021 in peer-reviewed articles, reports, conference proceedings, books, theses, and dissertations, among other materials. Our fish sounds information was collected using systematized methodology, with in-depth descriptions of our data collection methods available through Borealis. Sound recordings were acquired through generous donations from researchers.

Data Definitions

Definitions of the terms used on the website can be found in the table below.
Use the search bars above each column to filter the table.

Type	Term	Definition
Acoustic Measurement	*** frequency	frequency that divides the spectral content above and below the percentage or quartile reported in the measurement name in the position designated with ***; e.g., 5% frequency is the frequency that divides the spectral content into two frequency intervals containing 5% and 95% of the energy in the signal; Q1 = 25%; Q2 = 50%; Q3 = 75%
Acoustic Measurement	Duration	time elapsed between the beginning and end of a signal (e.g., sound, unit, pulse, group)
Acoustic Measurement	Frequency	number of cycles per second of a sound wave; sometimes referred to as pitch
Acoustic Measurement	Number of individuals	number of individuals of a fish species that produced the sounds measured; the number of individuals is not always possible to determine in a study or included in a reference, so this number is only included where available; this number does not indicate the number of individuals used in the study overall, it only refers to the number of individuals whose sounds were used to calculate the acoustic measurement
Acoustic Measurement	Number of sounds (N)	the number of different sounds or sound units that were measured for each measurement type; N gives an idea of statistical sample size; in some studies, multiple examples of the same sound may have been produced by different individual fish, but in other studies all examples of a sound may have been produced by the same individual fish; N does not indicate the number of individuals used or sounds found in the overall study, it refers to the number of sounds used for the measurement
Acoustic Measurement	Peak frequency	frequency at which the maximum power occurs
Acoustic Measurement	Period	time elapsed between the beginning of a sound unit (e.g., sound, pulse, group) and the beginning of the next
Acoustic Measurement	Pulse	unit that gets repeated in the amplitude-modulated oscillations that make up a fish sound; sometimes also used as a sound name
Examination Types	Auditory examination	check mark: if the authors listened to or recorded sounds in the vicinity of the fish as part of their sound production examination; "x": if the authors did not listen to or record sounds in the vicinity of the fish as part of their sound production examination
Examination Types	Morphophysiological examination	morphological and/or physiological sound production studies; check mark: if the authors examined or commented on mechanisms for sound production or sonic organs as a part of their sound production determination; "x": if the authors did not examine or comment on mechanisms for sound production or sonic organs as a part of their sound production determination; "?": if the authors examined or commented on mechanisms for sound production or sonic organs as a part of their sound production examination but expressed uncertainty in their conclusions on the physiological means of sound production
Examination Types	Visual examination	check mark: if during at least part of their auditory examination the authors watched the species by sight or on video or had the species isolated in an enclosure; "x": if the authors did not watch the species by sight or on video or had the species isolated in an enclosure during any part of their auditory examination
Fish Sound Information	Acoustic measurement	quantitative descriptors of fish sounds or sub-units of sounds and their properties
Fish Sound Information	Behavior descriptions	behaviors associated with active sound production by the authors; if the authors theorized about a certain behavior, but were not able to confirm them, then the respective behavior was labelled as tentative; when the authors cited other studies that described a direct relationship between the sounds produced and a behavior, the behavior was labelled as cited; if a behavior was tentative and a cited work, then it was labelled as tentative/cited; if a behavior was not tentative and was independently determined by the authors (i.e., not exclusively cited), then the behavior was not given an additional label; there was not internal consistency on terms used by authors to describe fish behaviors, so a range of synonyms may be used to describe the same behavior
Fish Sound Information	Examination types	the forms of sound production examination authors may have conducted to determine if a fish species produces sounds; we distinguished between physiological examinations as well as auditory examinations with or without visual confirmation
Fish Sound Information	Included diagrams	the types of fish sound visualization used in the reference; we distinguished between spectrograms, oscillograms, and power spectra
Fish Sound Information	Observation environments	the forms of testing arenas fish may have been auditorily examined for sound production in; we distinguished between wild, semi-wild, and captivity
Fish Sound Information	Sound detected	check mark: if the authors concluded that the fish species produced sound; "x": if the authors did not find any evidence of sound production by the fish species during their examination; "?": if the authors expressed uncertainty that the species in question actually did or did not make sound; even if no sounds were reported, the species may be shown to produce them upon further study
Fish Sound Information	Sound names	identifiers given by the authors to describe the sounds produced by the fish; if the authors theorized about the sort of sounds made or were not able to confidently confirm the species responsible for the sound, but claim a suspicion or a tentative species, then the sound name is labelled as tentative; when the authors cited other studies which described the sound name made by the respective species, the sound name was labelled as cited; if a sound name was tentative and a cited work, then it was labelled as tentative/cited; if a sound name was not tentative nor cited, then the behavior was not given an additional label; there is no consistent system to name sounds for fishes, so the same sort of sound produced by the same species may be given different names by different authors; "sound types" refers to the general categories of fish sound production traditionally designated by the field, while "sound names" refers to descriptors given to sounds
Fish Sound Information	Sound types	the forms of sounds fish may produce; we distinguished between active, passive feeding, and other passive sound types; "sound types" refers to the general categories of fish sound production traditionally designated by the field, while "sound names" refers to descriptors given to sounds
Fish Sound Information	Species identified	check mark: if there was an independent reporting (i.e., not citing another study) of sound production examination or determination of the species; "?": if the authors expressed uncertainty that they correctly identified the species that was examined
Fish Species Information	Class	taxonomic class as listed in the R package rfishbase
Fish Species Information	Climate	climate zones that the species was categorized as “native” or “endemic” to in the R package rfishbase
Fish Species Information	Common name	common name as listed in the R package rfishbase
Fish Species Information	Family	taxonomic family as listed in the R package rfishbase
Fish Species Information	Order	taxonomic order as listed in the R package rfishbase
Fish Species Information	Regions	fishing areas designated by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations that the species was categorized as “native” or “endemic” to in the R package rfishbase
Fish Species Information	Scientific name	scientific name (genus and species or just genus) as listed in the R package rfishbase
Fish Species Information	Waters	water body types that the species was listed under in the R package rfishbase
General Definition	Active sounds	active sounds, often referred to as intentional sounds, are commonly defined as being produced deliberately in association with a particular behavior or situation, frequently with specialized sonic organs or structures, and are generally used for communication; the definitions of active and passive sounds are fluid; the data collected were based on the reviewer’s interpretation of the authors’ determinations
General Definition	Passive sounds	passive sounds, sometimes referred to as incidental sounds, may not be associated with specialized sound-producing physiological structures nor with specific behaviors or situations, though they may still serve some signal function ; the definitions of active and passive sounds are fluid; the data collected were based on the reviewer’s interpretation of the authors’ determinations
General Definition	Reference	a published record, study, or work that includes peer-reviewed journal articles, dissertations, theses, books, etc.
General Definition	Sounds	active and/or passive sounds produced by fish
Included Diagrams	Oscillogram	a visual representation of the sound that shows amplitude (y axis) versus time (x axis); also known as waveform
Included Diagrams	Power spectrum	a visualization of sound with frequency on the x axis and amplitude on the y axis
Included Diagrams	Spectrogram	a visual representation of sound displaying how the frequency (y axis) changes over time (x axis) while amplitude is commonly represented by color or grayscale
Observation Environment	Captivity	any testing conducted in laboratories, tank environments, by holding the fish, among other completely artificial/human or captive environments
Observation Environment	Semi-wild	any testing conducted in a natural environment with artificial/human enclosures for the study animals, such as outdoor pens, or a large human-made environment, such as a manmade pond
Observation Environment	Wild	any testing conducted in a natural environment without any type of artificial/human enclosures for the study animals
Reference Information	Additional info	other information provided, such as publisher, publication location, types of dissertations or theses, or report identifiers as needed
Reference Information	Article number	article number assigned to the reference where applicable
Reference Information	Authors	list of authors for each reference; first names were identified where available and initials when not
Reference Information	DOI	digital object identifier for the reference when available
Reference Information	Electronic location identifier	the electronic location identifier where applicable
Reference Information	Gray literature	a reference that did not appear to be a peer-reviewed journal article; includes books, conference proceedings, conference abstracts, dissertations, theses, music records, etc.
Reference Information	ISBN	the international standard book number of the reference where available
Reference Information	ISSN	the international identifier for print serials and other continuing resources where available
Reference Information	Issue	issue of the volume of the journal where available
Reference Information	Language	the language the body or full-text of the article was in
Reference Information	No. of pages	the total number of pages in that reference where applicable (e.g., whole book, thesis)
Reference Information	Pages	page range of the reference where applicable (e.g., journal article, book chapter)
Reference Information	Publication	name of journal, periodical, or book where reference was found; “the” was not placed in the front of names; in the case of book chapters, book editors are listed after the book title
Reference Information	Title	title of reference; if non-English titles were written with the Latin alphabet they were provided along with translation in brackets if one was provided in the reference; if non-English titles were not written with the Latin alphabet, then just the English translation was provided in brackets
Reference Information	Volume	volume of journal where available
Reference Information	Year	year the reference was published
Reference Information	eISSN	the international identifier for online serials and other continuing resources where available
Sound Types	Active sound detected	check mark: if at least one of the sounds reported in the study was categorized as an 'active sound' (see definition); "x": if no sounds reported in the study were categorized as active sounds; "?": if the authors expressed uncertainty that they correctly identified between active or passive sound types; even if no active sounds were reported, the species may be shown to produce them upon further study
Sound Types	Other passive sound detected	check mark: if at least one of the sounds reported in the study was categorized as a 'passive sound' (see definition) that did not qualify as 'passive feeding sound' (e.g., passive sound produced through activities such as swimming, splashing, digging, bumping into tank walls, or surfacing); "x": if no sounds reported in the study were categorized as a passive sound that did not qualify as a 'passive feeding sound' (e.g., passive sound produced through activities such as swimming, splashing, digging, bumping into tank walls, or surfacing); "?": if the authors expressed uncertainty that they correctly identified between active or passive sound types; even if no other passive sounds were reported, the species may be shown to produce them upon further study
Sound Types	Passive feeding sound detected	check mark: if at least one of the sounds reported in the study was categorized as a 'passive sound' (see definition below) produced through activities such as feeding, eating, or chewing; "x": if no sounds reported in the study were categorized as passive sounds produced through activities such as feeding, eating, or chewing; "?": if the authors expressed uncertainty that they correctly identified between active or passive sound types; even if no passive feeding sounds were reported, the species may be shown to produce them upon further study

All the fish sounds data that is published on the website can be accessed in the form of Excel spreadsheets and individual sound files in Dataverse. Picture files can be located at their original source based on the attribution information and URL links provided near each image or in the Excel spreadsheet in Dataverse.

Information on the fish species is provided by and can be found at the FishBase website or through their R package, rfishbase. Minor edits have been made to this data set to correct typos and standardize labels. The region information for Antarctic inland waters has also been removed from all species, due to issues with data quality. Two species (Salmo trutta and Salvelinus fontinalis, Salmonidae) were incorrectly listed as native to inland Antarctica (see supplemental methods for Looby et al. 2022a) and the six other species listed by FishBase as occurring in inland Antarctica were of questionable validity. We therefore decided to temporarily remove all species occurrence records for inland Antarctica until more accurate regional data could be acquired. Other regions may have similarly miscategorized species, but they would not have as great a relative input to their respective regions and associated statistics, so we did not make attempts to correct them.

Data and Website Version History

Date	Version	Description
2024-01-26	2.2	Added list view visualization; funding information included in Learn More section; expanded taxonomy information included for fish; added search bar to dendrogram; search now handles accented characters
2023-09-11	2.1	Added Macauley recording collection; updated fish taxonomy to match FishBase version 23.05; revised search forms; added Latest Changes page; added first edition of dendrogram visualization.
2022-12-21	2	Addition of Explore section and the map visualization; dark mode; audio levels of recordings stabilized; revised Learn More pages.
2022-04-27	1.1	Updated systematized review dataset to include references published through the end of December 2021; added original species names (i.e., the scientific names authors originally used in their publication) for each species in each reference; added FishSounds editor notes for certain entries as needed; updating and adding new species images; adding new recording donations
2021-10-17	1	Initial launch of the site with systematized review dataset including references published through the end of December 2020, a preliminary batch of donated recordings, and external recording links

About Our Website

The code used to build this website is open source and available on GitHub. It is intended to support other efforts to make acoustic research and recordings available online.