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The lobsters emit a strange sound, unique in nature, that could be considered the equivalent of biological of a violin. The squeaking occurs when the crustacean rub an extension of your antenna against a tissue that unfolds under your eyes. The behavior is performed to communicate or to deter potential predators. In addition to rare, it is pretty outrageous. A new study published in “Scientific Reports” says that the noise can be detected up to 3 km of distance under the water.

Youenn Jézéquel and his colleagues were 1.560 of these sounds produced by 24 spiny lobsters in the bay of Saint Anne du Portzic, France. The sounds were recorded using eight underwater microphones located between 0.5 and 100 m away from the locusts. The authors found that only the larger individuals could be registered at a distance of 100 m, while individuals of intermediate, small and very small, could not be registered at distances exceeding 50, 20 and 10 m, respectively.

take Care of the species

On the basis of these measurements, the expected loss of the intensity of the sound over distance and background noise levels present during the experiment, the authors estimated that the friction produced by large lobsters can be detectable up to 400 m of distance. And even more far away. The researchers believe that in the conditions of low background noise, the sounds produced by the largest specimens (13.5 cm long) could be detected up to 3 km of distance.

The results demonstrate that these sounds could be used to detect and examine populations of spiny lobsters to kilometers of distance. According to the authors, as the species is rare in european waters due to decades of overfishing, we need noninvasive tools, such as the monitoring of acoustic, to better manage this vulnerable species.