Tuesday February 3, 2026
Oceanographic —
Fish have long been known to grunt, knock and growl beneath the surface, but until now, much of this underwater soundscape has been something of a mystery. New research from the University of Victoria (UVic), however, has found that even closely related fish species produce distinctive sounds that can be reliably told apart – opening up new possibilities for identifying fish by sound alone.
Using passive acoustic monitoring in coastal waters around Vancouver Island, UVic researchers recorded and analysed the natural calls of eight common fish species. By combining these recordings with machine learning, the team was able to correctly identify which species produced which sound with up to 88% accuracy.