New observations and modeling of an unusual spatiotemporal pattern of fish chorusing off the southern California coast

Abstract

The purpose of this presentation is to present new results on an unusual spatiotemporal pattern of fish chorusing off the southern California coast. Characteristics of this fish chorus have been reported previously; it occurs at night in the late spring and summer months in shallow, sandy bottom regions just outside the surf zone. The background sound levels increase by up to 30 dB and cycle in level with a period of 30-35 sec all night long. In this paper, recent results from measurements made by a set of high spatial resolution sensor systems spanning a 50-km stretch of coastline out to 20 km offshore over a 2-month time period are presented. These data allow the spatial dependence and long-term temporal variability of the chorus to be examined at high spatial resolution. Refinements to a numerical model that predicts this chorusing behavior are required to account for some aspects of these new observations. © 2013 Acoustical Society of America.