Homing in on Reef Homes

Justin Suca holds a translucent young mantis shrimp off the Caribbean island of St. John where he does field work. Suca, a graduate student in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, investigates whether tiny larval fish that hatch in the open ocean use sound to navigate to coral reefs where they will settle down and live. He uses underwater instruments to record sounds at reefs, along with nets to collect incoming larvae, in an effort to correlate soundscapes with fish settlement. If he can discern what “home” sounds like to fish, scientists may be able to help sick reefs by attracting fish back to them. (Photo by Laura Weber, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)