Are sharks even bothered by a noisy environment?

Abstract

Elasmobranch fishes have been around for hundreds of millions of years with very little evolutionary changes, yet our understanding of their hearing abilities is limited to only a few of the hundreds of extant species. Our general understanding suggests a relatively narrow hearing range with relatively poor sensitivity, particularly compared with many teleosts. This lack of knowledge makes it difficult to evaluate the potential effects that could be associated with exposure to anthropogenic noise. However, given the combination of the worldwide increase in anthropogenic aquatic noise as well as the drastic population decline in many species of elasmobranch fishes, it is imperative that noise-exposure studies be conducted to determine whether these fishes are being further threatened by our noise pollution.