Conversations Under the Canopy: Aggregating Juvenile Mangrove Whiprays Actively Produce Sound

Abstract

New  evidence  from  Magnetic  Island  on  the  Great  Barrier  Reef,  Australia,  shows  that  the  mangrove  whipray  (Urogymnus  granulatus)  can  actively  produce  sounds.  Juvenile  mangrove  whiprays  appear  to  make  loud  clicking  noises  as  an  agonistic display, either to warn off and startle predators or to signal to other nearby juveniles to aggregate in defense. Though it is clear that elasmobranchs (sharks, rays, and skates) can hear and respond to sounds in various ways, until now, there have been no confirmed examples of active sound production by this group in the wild.

Published in

The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America
2024, volume: 105, number: 1, article number: e2113

SLU Authors

• Fetterplace, Lachlan

  • Department of Aquatic Resources (SLU Aqua), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Zoology

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/bes2.2113

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/126754