Squid play an important role in biomass turnover in marine ecosystems and constitute a food source for ~90% of all echolocating toothed whale species. Nonetheless, it has been hypothesized that the soft bodies of squid provide echoes too weak to be detected by toothed whale biosonars, and that only the few hard parts of the squid body may generate significant backscatter. We measured the acoustic backscatter from the common squid Loligo pealeii for signals similar to toothed whale echolocation clicks using an energy detector to mimic the mammalian auditory system. We show that the dorsal target strengths of L. pealeii with mantle lengths between 23 and 26 cm fall in the range from -38 to -44 dB, and that the pen, beak and lenses do not contribute significantly to the backscatter. Thus, the muscular mantle and fins of L. pealeii constitute a sufficient sonar target for individual biosonar detection by toothed whales at ranges between 25 and 325 m, depending on squid size, noise levels, click source levels, and orientation of the ensonified squid. While epipelagic squid must be fast and muscular to catch prey and avoid visual predators, it is hypothesized that some deep-water squid may have adopted passive acoustic crypsis, with a body of low muscle mass and low metabolism that will render them less conspicuous to echolocating predators.

The sperm whale carries a hypertrophied nose that generates powerful clicks for long-range echolocation. However, it remains a conundrum how this bizarrely shaped apex predator catches its prey. Several hypotheses have been advanced to propose both active and passive means to acquire prey, including acoustic debilitation of prey with very powerful clicks. Here we test these hypotheses by using sound and movement recording tags in a fine-scale study of buzz sequences to relate the acoustic behaviour of sperm whales with changes in acceleration in their head region during prey capture attempts. We show that in the terminal buzz phase, sperm whales reduce inter-click intervals and estimated source levels by 1–2 orders of magnitude. As a result, received levels at the prey are more than an order of magnitude below levels required for debilitation, precluding acoustic stunning to facilitate prey capture. Rather, buzzing involves high-frequency, low amplitude clicks well suited to provide high-resolution biosonar updates during the last stages of capture. The high temporal resolution helps to guide motor patterns during occasionally prolonged chases in which prey are eventually subdued with the aid of fast jaw movements and/or buccal suction as indicated by acceleration transients (jerks) near the end of buzzes.

No abstract

Toothed whales use intense ultrasonic clicks to echolocate prey and it has been hypothesized that they also acoustically debilitate their prey with these intense sound pulses to facilitate capture. Cephalopods are an important food source for toothed whales, and there has probably been an evolutionary selection pressure on cephalopods to develop a mechanism for detecting and evading sound-emitting toothed whale predators. Ultrasonic detection has evolved in some insects to avoid echolocating bats, and it can be hypothesized that cephalopods might have evolved similar ultrasound detection as an anti-predation measure. We test this hypothesis in the squid Loligo pealeii in a playback experiment using intense echolocation clicks from two squid-eating toothed whale species. Twelve squid were exposed to clicks at two repetition rates (16 and 125 clicks per second) with received sound pressure levels of 199-226 dB re1 microPa (pp) mimicking the sound exposure from an echolocating toothed whale as it approaches and captures prey. We demonstrate that intense ultrasonic clicks do not elicit any detectable anti-predator behaviour in L. pealeii and that clicks with received levels up to 226 dB re1 microPa (pp) do not acoustically debilitate this cephalopod species.