Macaulay Library Marine Collection

Videographer: David O. Brown

Overview:

Animals living under water face a sensory world that is very different from that of animals on land. Underwater vision is limited to short distances, and the deeper an animal goes, the more the light is limited to blues and greens, and less light is available overall. 

Sound, on the other hand, can travel much farther under water than on land. Animals that are likely to be eaten if they emerge from a refuge to perform a visual display can still communicate with others from inside the refuge using sound. It is no surprise that many species of crustaceans (crabs, shrimp, and lobsters), fish, and marine mammals (seals, manatees, dolphins and whales) rely heavily on sound for communication.

The Macaulay Library Marine Collection provides the world's most extensive and best documented examples of marine animal sounds available online. It is complemented by a growing collection of marine animal videos. Visitors to the archive can use our search tools to browse all the sounds and videos and play them for free online.