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Science 8 April 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5719, p. 221
DOI: 10.1126/science.1107406
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Brevia

Homeward Sound

Stephen D. Simpson,1* Mark Meekan,2 John Montgomery,3 Rob McCauley,4 Andrew Jeffs5

Despite spending weeks at sea as larvae, potentially scattered over many kilometers, young coral reef fish find suitable settlement habitat and in some cases return to their natal reefs. We report that some dominant families of larval reef fish use the sounds made by fish and shrimp resident on reefs to help them locate and settle on reefs and that some fish groups use specific components of the reef sound to guide their behavior. These findings could offer potential for active management of reef fisheries.

1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT, UK.
2 Australian Institute of Marine Science, Post Office Box 40197, Casuarina, Darwin, NT 8010, Australia.
3 Leigh Marine Laboratory, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, NZ.
4 Centre for Marine Science and Technology, Curtin University, GPO Box U 1987, Perth 6845, Australia.
5 National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Ltd., Post Office Box 109-695, Newmarket, Auckland, NZ.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: s.simpson{at}ed.ac.uk

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