While finding the creatures takes a lot of work, the results are worth it.
A beaked whale sighting from the researchers’ field study in the Foz do Amazonas Basin. Credit: Machado et al.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9, 2025 – Whale watching is a popular pastime on coastlines around the world. Cetaceans like blue whales, humpbacks, and orcas can be seen in the wild, and their characteristics are well categorized in science and popular culture. Other cetaceans, however, are less outgoing, preferring to stay out of the limelight.
Beaked whales are considered one of the least understood mammals in the world, which is due to their cryptic…click to read more
Maria Paula Rey Baquero – rey_m@javeriana.edu.co Instagram: @mariapaulareyb Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Fundación Macuáticos Colombia Bogotá Colombia
Additional Authors: Kerri D. Seger Camilo Andrés Correa Ayram Natalia Botero Acosta Maria Angela Echeverry-Galvis
Project Ports, Humpbacks y Sound In Colombia – @physicolombia Fundación Macuaticos Colombia – @macuaticos Semillero Aquasistemas – @aquasistemaspuj
Popular version of 4aAB5 – Modeling for acoustical corridors in patchy reef habitats of the Gulf of Tribugá, Colombia Presented at the 188th ASA Meeting Read the abstract at https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0037990
–The research described in this Acoustics Lay Language Paper may not have yet been peer reviewed–
Sound plays a fundamental role in marine ecosystems, functioning as an invisible network of “pathways” or corridors that connect habitat patches and enable critical behaviors like migration, communication, and reproduction. In Colombia’s northern Pacific, one of the most biodiverse regions, the Gulf of Tribugá stands out for its pristine soundscape, dominated by the sounds of marine life. Designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a “Hope Spot” for conservation, this area serves as a vital nursery for humpback whales and supports local livelihoods through ecotourism and artisanal fishing. However, increasing human activities, including boat traffic and climate change, threaten these acoustic habitats, prompting researcher on how sound influences ecological connectivity—the lifeline for marine species’ movement and survival.
This study in Colombia’s Gulf of Tribugá mapped how ocean sounds connect marine life by integrating acoustic data with ecological modeling. Researchers analyzed how sound travels through the marine environment, finding that humpback whale songs (300 Hz) create natural acoustical corridors along coastal areas and rocky islands (‘riscales’). These pathways, though occasionally interrupted by depth variations, appear crucial for whale communication, navigation, and maintaining social connections during migration. In contrast, fish calls (100 Hz) showed no detectable sound corridors, suggesting fish may depend less on acoustic signals or use alternative navigation cues like wave noise when moving between habitats.
Photographs of some of the recorded fish species. Source: Author
The research underscores that acoustical connectivity is species-specific. While humpback whales may depend on sound corridors and prioritize long-distance communication, fish may prioritize short-range communication or other environmental signals. At any distance, noise pollution disrupts these systems universally: The bubbling/popping sounds created by spinning boat propellers, for instance, generate frequencies that can covers up the whale songs and fish calls and degrade habitat quality, even if fish are less affected over the same distances that whales are. Background noise shrinks and breaks up the underwater corridors that marine animals use to communicate and navigate, harming their underwater sound habitat.
Figure 1. Received sound levels when emitted by singers (a) without noise and (b) with background noise, at a grain size of 2 Φ. The left column shows conditions without background noise, and the right column shows conditions with noise. Sound intensities most likely to be heard by a humpback whale at 200 Hz are shown in green, less likely sounds in orange, and inaudible sounds in black. Source: Author
Noise pollution alters behaviors and acoustic corridors humpback whales rely on for communication and navigation in Colombia’s Pacific waters. Notably, the fish species studied showed no sound-dependent movement, suggesting their reliance on other cues. The study advocates for sound-inclusive conservation, proposing that acoustic data (more easily gathered today via satellites, field recordings, and public databases) should join traditional metrics like currents or temperature in marine management. Protecting acoustic corridors could become as vital as safeguarding breeding grounds, especially in biodiverse hubs like Tribugá.
This work marks a first step towards integrated acoustical-ecological models, offering tools to quantify noise impacts and design smarter protections. Future research could refine species-specific sound thresholds or expand to deeper oceanic areas. For now, the message is preserving marine ecosystems requires listening, not just looking. Combining efforts to lessen human noise by using mapped soundscapes to target critical corridors could help in the conservation of marine species.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA, 95039, United States
Popular version of 4aUW7 – Wind-driven movement ecology of blue whales detected by acoustic vector sensing
Presented at the 188th ASA Meeting
Read the abstract at https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0038108
–The research described in this Acoustics Lay Language Paper may not have yet been peer reviewed–
A technology that captures multiple dimensions of underwater sound is revealing how blue whales live, thereby informing whale conservation.
The most massive animal ever to evolve on Earth, the blue whale, needs a lot of food. Finding that food in a vast foraging habitat is challenging, and these giants must travel far and wide in search of it. The searching that leads them to life-sustaining nutrition can also lead them to a life-ending collision with a massive fast-moving ship. To support the recovery of this endangered species, we must understand where and how the whales live, and how human activities intersect with whale lives.
Toward better understanding and protecting blue whales in the California Current ecosystem, an interdisciplinary team of scientists is applying a technology called an acoustic vector sensor. Sitting just above the seafloor, this technology receives the powerful sounds produced by blue whales and quantifies changes in both pressure and particle motion that are caused by the sound waves. The pressure signal reveals the type of sound produced. The particle motion signal points to where the sound originated, thereby providing spatial information on the whales.
A blue whale in the California Current ecosystem. Image Credit: Goldbogen Lab of Stanford University / Duke Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab; NMFS Permit 16111.
For blue whales, it is all about the thrill of the krill. Krill are small-bodied crustaceans that can form massive swarms. Blue whales only eat krill, and they locate swarms to consume krill by the millions (would that be krillions?). Krill form dense swarms in association with cold plumes of water that result from a wind-driven circulation called upwelling. Sensors riding on the backs of blue whales reveal that the whales can track cold plumes precisely and persistently when they are foraging.
The close relationships between upwelling and blue whale movements motivates the hypothesis that the whales move farther offshore when upwelling habitat expands farther offshore, as occurs during years with stronger wind-driven upwelling. We tested this hypothesis by tracking upwelling conditions and blue whale locations over a three-year period. As upwelling doubled over the study period, the percentage of blue whale calls originating from offshore habitat also nearly doubled. A shift in habitat occupancy offshore, where the shipping lanes exist, also brings higher risk of fatal collisions with ships.
However, there is good news for blue whales and other whale species in this region. Reducing ship speeds can greatly reduce the risk of ship-whale collisions. An innovative partnership, Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies, has been fostering voluntary speed reductions for large vessels over the last decade. This program has expanded to cover a great stretch of the California coast, and the growing participation of shipping companies is a powerful and welcome contribution to whale conservation.
Alba Solsona-Berga – asolsonaberga@ucsd.edu Scripps Institution of Oceanography University of California San Diego La Jolla, CA 92037 United States
Instagram: @sripps_mbarc
Popular version of 2pAO5 – Shaping the acoustic field in the Gulf of Mexico: marine mammals linked to topography and oceanographic features Presented at the 188th ASA Meeting Read the abstract at https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0037682
–The research described in this Acoustics Lay Language Paper may not have yet been peer reviewed–
Exploring the Lives of the Ocean’s Deepest Divers After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, restoring marine mammal populations in the Gulf of Mexico became a priority. Protecting these animals starts with understanding how they use their habitat and where they go. Sperm whales and beaked whales are some of the ocean’s most extreme divers, spending much of their lives navigating the dark depths. They rely on bursts of sound called echolocation clicks to find their prey and navigate. These clicks act like acoustic fingerprints, helping us figure out where whales go and what environments they prefer.
To track their movements, we set up 18 underwater listening stations throughout the Gulf. These instruments recorded sounds continuously for three years. By analyzing this data, we discovered patterns in where the whales appeared and how those locations were linked to oceanographic features like currents and slopes.
Video: Deploying the instruments.
Where Whales Go Different whale species tend to favor different parts of the deep Gulf. Goose-beaked whales often stay near deep eddies and steep slopes. Gervais’ beaked whales are more likely to follow surface and midwater eddies, while sperm whales mostly stick to areas where freshwater from rivers mixes with the open ocean. They tend to avoid the tropical Loop Current, a warm flow from the Caribbean into the Gulf, that seems to create conditions less favorable for these whales.
An example of how marine mammals use different parts of the Gulf of Mexico. The maps show ocean features at three depth ranges: surface (0-250 m), mid-depth (700-1250 m), and deep (1500-3000 m). Dolphins are shown in the surface plot, sperm whales in the mid-depth plot, and goose-beaked whales in the deep plot. Colors indicate water movement, with red showing strong currents and blue showing calmer areas. Circles mark recording stations, with bigger circles showing more animals detected.
Whales Shape Their Environment Whales don’t just adapt to their surroundings, they also shape them. Their powerful clicks, produced by the millions, bounce off the seafloor and underwater features, making their presence a key part of the local acoustic environment. Where whales occur, the acoustic environment changes, influenced both by their vocalizations and by the prey that may be present. Prey layers can influence how sound propagates through the water, adding complexity to the acoustic field. Detecting whales in specific areas helps us understand how the acoustic environment might vary under different conditions. Mapping where whales are present also reveals potential biological hotspots and helps us understand how sound behaves in these deep-sea habitats.
Why This Matters This research is a collaboration between scientists from the United States and Mexico, supported by NOAA’s RESTORE Science Program, the Deepwater Horizon Restoration Open Ocean Marine Mammal Trustee Implementation Group, and the Office of Naval Research Task Force Ocean. These detailed maps of whale distribution are vital for identifying critical habitats and guiding conservation strategies. They help us understand how threats like oil spills, industrial activity, and environmental changes impact whale populations, allowing us to plan effective mitigation and restoration efforts to maintain healthy ecosystems.
Brijonnay Madrigal – bcm2@hawaii.edu Instagram: @brijonnay Marine Mammal Research Program University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 46-007 Lilipuna Rd Kaneohe, HI 96744 United States
Marine Mammal Research Program @mmrp_uh
Popular version of 5aAB – Acoustic behavior of endangered false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) using biologging devices in Hawaiʻi Presented at the 188th ASA Meeting Read the abstract at https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0038276
–The research described in this Acoustics Lay Language Paper may not have yet been peer reviewed–
How do scientists better understand the communication of individual animals when we don’t know who is speaking and what they are doing underwater? For cetaceans (whales/dolphins/porpoises), passive acoustic monitoring is an important approach to study these animals that spend most of their time underwater and rely on acoustic signaling to communicate. The use of acoustic biologging tags has enabled the collection of high-resolution data to study acoustic behavior of top predators. The Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) insular population of false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) is the most endangered toothed whale population in Hawaiʻi under the Endangered Species Act. Despite ongoing management efforts to address threats, the population has continued to decline to a current population size of less than 150 individuals. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the behavior of this population to better inform conservation measures critical for the protection of this species. Our understanding of the social context of individual false killer whales has generally been limited, until now.
The goal of this study was to use data recorded from non-invasive archival , suction-cup tags, to describe the acoustic behavior of MHI insular false killer whales to better understand the behavioral context of social signals. Our objectives were to (1) classify and characterize the repertoire of individual false killer whales; (2) describe nonlinear features observed in calls that enhance communication between individuals; and (3) analyze the relationship between social sound production and diving behavior. These findings can help us evaluate social context on a small scale and provide foundational information to determine the potential function of these signals.
Our results show that MHI insular false killer whales have a more diverse repertoire than previously described. Some call types are shared between individuals, and some are unique to individuals. We identified predominate call types that are repeated or favored by specific individuals and call rates vary by individual across dive states (for example – descent, ascent) (Figure 1). Most calls are biphonic, where the animals produce a call and clicks simultaneously (Audio 1). Although clicks are commonly used for echolocation to navigate and locate prey, the clicks produced by these animals occur with calls at the same time in distinct patterns, so they likely function in communication and encode additional information for individuals. This study provides invaluable insights into this species’ social behavior and by intercepting the coconut wireless of Hawaiʻi false killer whales using tag technology, our findings can inform management strategies necessary to advance conservation efforts of this top predator to the Hawaiʻi ecosystem.
Figure 1: A spectrogram of three predominate call types produced by one tagged false killer whale from the Main Hawaiian Islands insular population. Calls are biphonic which means a call and clicks are produced simultaneously, as indicated by the arrows in the first panel. A spectrogram is a visual representation of sound with time on the x-axis, frequency (or pitch) on the y-axis, and color representing the relative amplitude (loudness) of the sound.
A blue whale in the California Current ecosystem. Image Credit: Goldbogen Lab of Stanford University / Duke Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab; NMFS Permit 16111.
