Acoustic cam on a remote operated vehicle for coral reef soundscape recording

Although the broadband high level sounds of snapping shrimps dominate the soundscape of a coral reef, the spatial, spectral, and temporal variations due to biotic and abiotic factors are indicators of the health of these vulnerable environments; for instance, reefs become louder during new moons of the wet season, when many larval organisms settle, or tends to go quiet as animals abandon them when conditions become less favorable. Moreover, the soundscape is able to provide information on the reef benthic composition and has been identified as a possible driver of reef population dynamics. To study this particular environment, a Remote Operated Vehicle (openROV) is being used to visually identify the biota associated with a shallow coral reef near a major port in La Paz, Mexico. An acoustic linear array has been incorporated, providing directional sound recording capabilities to capture better space variability of the coral soundscape. By combining visual and acoustical clues in an acoustic cam, it is als...