Verification of Vocalizations in Giant Sea Bass, Stereolepis gigas

In his recently completed thesis, my former student, Brian Clark, reported on aspects of the reproductive behavior of Giant Sea Bass, Stereolepis gigas, which were successfully observed and described at Goat Harbor, Santa Catalina Island, CA from June 2014 to August 2015 (Clark 2016). This site was visited daily during the summer months, which is the assumed spawning season and aggregations were not present during the spring and fall months (Clark & Allen in review). As part of that study, we concluded that Giant Sea Bass (or Giants) produced booming sounds, which were often associated with aggressive behavior, but may also be associated with spawning activity. This booming sound was verified in the field as being produced by Giants with paired video and audio recordings on three occasions. These low frequency ?booms? ranged from 50 to 80 Hz. In addition, ?drum roll chorusing? sounds were recorded within the Giant Sea Bass aggregation site at two different frequencies, 250 Hz and 350 Hz. These sounds, coincided with peak activity (1900-2100 hrs.) of the Giants when the fish are moving about the water column rather than remaining stationary near the substratum. These ?drum roll? vocalizations have not yet been linked directly to Giants, a fact that greatly limits our interpretation of their mating behavior. Simply put, the immediate goal of this proposal is to verify whether these sounds are produced by Giant Sea Bass.