Sea scientists used to think that stellers were silent residents of the ocean. Two different stingray species have been caught on camera making weird clicking sounds, but also leaving them stumped.
"That we only just realized that these commonly encountered stingrays are making sounds demonstrates, once again, how little we know about the oceans," says marine ecologist Lachlan Fetterplace, who led the study.
A lot of fish make sounds. Eelasmobranchs are a group of fish that include rays, sharks, and sawfish.
It appears that not so. Fetterplace says that they now have multiple recordings and observations of two species of stingrays.
Fetterplace says that two mangrove whiprays and a cowtail stingray were observed by divers who captured them making weird sounds, which could be a warning or defense signal.
Unlike haunting whale songs that travel far across the oceans, or bewitching bird songs that filter through forests, the wild stingrays in these videos make short, sharp, hollow-sounding clicks.
The two species produce clicks of slightly different pitch as they glide through the water, an environment that often sounds muffled to humans but is actually full of noisy creatures.
🔊on! Stingrays: no longer the silent residents of the sea. Our new paper provides the 1st evidence of not one but TWO species of #stingray actively producing sounds https://t.co/0bPJpZpMHT @BWueringer @jdelgadoesteban @MotherOfRays @SLU_aqua @fish_thinkers @ESAEcology 1/ pic.twitter.com/uvObWfElM3
— Lachlan Fetterplace (@fiskeforbrains) July 19, 2022
Fetterplace and colleagues surmised that the elasmobranchs can hear clicking sounds, which fall into the expected hearing range.
They came up with the idea that the rays could make a quick escape if they produced the sounds to ward off or startle their prey.
In both Indonesia's Gili Islands and the Great Barrier Reef, the rays stopped makingclicking sounds when the diver or ray moved away, in all recorded observations.
One snorkeler said that the sounds of the stingrays could be a call to arms to recruit other stingrays.
How does a flat animal make a sound other than a swoosh?
Humans snap our fingers or click our tongues in similar ways, according to researchers.
"We don't know how the rays are producing the sounds, but it appears to involve rapid movement of the head or jaw and spiracles, an opening behind the eyes," says co-author and marine scientist.
The mangrove whipray is at Magnetic Island.
The noises of stroncles have been heard before, but never before. There were some reports of cowtail rays making loud clicking sounds when fleeing from divers in murky waters decades ago.
This is the first documented evidence that the animals are producing sounds.
The researchers say that more research is needed to appreciate the hearing range of elasmobranchs.
There are only 10 species of elasmobranchs that are sensitive to low frequencies.
We shouldn't be surprised yet continually marvel at new discoveries that upend what we thought we knew about life on Earth, considering how animals perceive the world they live in.
The videos only show a few instances of two species making noise, which may be because they only do so occasionally when threatened.
There are some species of animals that are solitary.
According to National Geographic, a marine community ecologist at the University of Florida said that they can be difficult to study.
With over 1200 known elasmobranch species, researchers think many more observations could surface, now that people know what to listen for.
The study was published in a journal.
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