The Unexpected Music of a Coral Reef

Today, I’m going to be your DJ and guide you through a different kind of playlist: a fantasia of sound that tells a story about the ocean. Let’s start with the cacophonous clip below.

What are your impressions? Did it sound chaotic to you? Maybe it felt familiar in some way, as if someone were laughing while rain poured heavily in the background. Like you were listening to an underwater carnival. You were, in a sense. You were hearing a healthy coral reef.

Coral reefs are among the largest, most ancient, most diverse, and most threatened animal-built structures on the planet.. Thousands of organisms—including algae, crustaceans, fish, sharks, rays, sea turtles, and marine mammals—rely on coral reefs to reproduce, grow, feed, and survive.