Coral Reef Crooner

As any marketing specialist or advertising executive will tell you, sometimes you have to make your message a bit different if you want it to be heard amongst all the noise. And when everyone around you is advertising their availability as a mate at every opportunity, it’s doubly important that your own amorous intentions are heard loud and clear if you’re ever to help further the survival of the species.

Perhaps no species in the oceans is as aware of this as the Ambon Damselfish (Pomacentrus amboinensis), a colourful fish found in the Great Barrier Reef and off the costs of Taiwan. In an effort to make itself heard above the racket of the reef around it, the damselfish has learned to try something new and uses a special “love song” that’s entirely different to anything else.

While damselfish are already notoriously chatty fish, they normally signal each other by either snapping their teeth together to produce “pops” or by stringing together multiple pops very quickly to produce longer “chirps.” However scientists have recently recorded them performing an entirely new and high-pitched tonal call that sounds for all the world like windscreen wipers dragging across dry glass. It might not be the most alluring or romantic love song around, but it seems to get the job done as far as female damselfish are concerned as it helps them identify fish of their own species in the reef.

Even more fascinating is the fact that although these damselfish have been observed and studied extensively over the past 15 years, they have only recently been recorded using the wiping sound, suggesting that the species has in effect learned an entirely new trick. What’s more, scientists aren’t even sure how the little fish manages to produce the sound at all, as its high frequency rules out muscle contractions. One thing’s for certain though – no matter how the mysterious mating call is made, its unique sound is sure to help the little fish find love beneath the waves.