FishSounds Version 1.1: Data Archive, User Experience, and Online Resources

Fish sound production is taxonomically and geographically widespread. Produced actively or passively, acoustic contributions of fishes to aquatic soundscapes support a myriad of con- and hetero-specific interactions. Despite the ecological importance of fish sounds, the field of bioacoustics historically lacked a global inventory of fish species known to produce sound. FishSounds launched in 2021, cataloging examinations of active and passive sound production by 1185 fish species from 837 references, as well as 239 exemplary audio recordings. In April 2022, FishSounds released Version 1.1 to expand the website’s data and improve its functionality. This new version updated the core dataset to include work published up until the end of the year 2021, adding 30 species, 25 recordings, and 85 references. It also added text to note the original species names used by the authors, updated all taxonomy data to FishBase version 02/2022, and included a webpage highlighting other resources that might be of interest to users. Additionally, FishSounds Educate launched a series of interactive lectures, classroom workshops, and field labs for primary, secondary, and university students. Future FishSounds versions will prioritize streamlining the data submission process, improving the user experience, and using bioacoustics to increase ocean literacy.