There’s A Reef Off Georgia’s Coast, And The Animals There Make A Racket

Gray’s Reef is just off the coast of Georgia, about 20 miles from Sapelo Island. Like a reef in the Caribbean, it bursts with ocean life, though since it’s in a temperate climate, it has a different mix of animals.

Scientists want to figure out more about what’s going on at Gray’s Reef, and they’re trying a new approach: with sound.

By leaving audio recorders at the reef for a month at a time, a handful of times a year, scientists are getting access to a chorus of underwater animal life at Gray’s Reef. Some of the sounds are identifiable: the squeaks of dolphins; the low, grunting “womps” of oyster toadfish; the incessant crackling of snapping shrimp. Other sounds are a mystery to the researchers.