In recent years, the effects of anthropogenic noise on freshwater fish has been of increasing interest for fishery managers due to rising levels of this background noise. While it is clear that anthropogenic noise can have important impacts on mammals and marine fish, much less is known about these effects in fresh water. The influence of anthropogenic noise on freshwater fish can be quantified using the same methods as with marine species — through measuring changes in behavioural and physiological outputs. Here, we briefly review the literature regarding behavioural and physiological impacts of noise pollution on freshwater fish and further note the lack of incorporation of both behavioural and physiological measures within current studies. We call for an increased research emphasis on possible effects of anthropogenic noise on freshwater fish and further suggest that the integration of behavioural and physiological techniques is critical for a full understanding of these effects. While freshwater fish face many stressors, it is unclear how important anthropogenic noise really is, and this issue can only be properly resolved through careful study.

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The ability of elasmobranchs to detect and use sound cues has been heavily debated in previous research and has only recently received revived attention. To properly understand the importance of sound to elasmobranchs, assessing their responses to acoustic stimuli in a field setting is vital. Here, we establish a behavioural audiogram of free-swimming male and female southern stingrays ( Hypanus americanus ) exposed to low-frequency tones. We demonstrate that female stingrays exposed to tones (50–500 Hz) exhibit significant changes in swimming behaviours (increased time spent swimming, decreased rest time, increased surface breaches and increased side swimming with pectoral flapping) at 140 dB re 1 µPa (−2.08 to −2.40 dB re 1 m s −2 ) while males exposed to the same tones did not exhibit a change in these behaviours until 160 dB re 1 µPa (−1.13 to −1.21 dB re 1 m s −2 ). Our results are the first demonstration of field responses to sound in the Batoidea and show a distinct sensitivity to low-frequency acoustic inputs.

Hearing ability is well studied across teleost fishes in general, and vertebrates more broadly, but little is known about sound detection abilities of lampreys (Petromyzontiformes), a basal extant vertebrate group. The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is a destructive invader of the Laurentian Great Lakes, while numerous lamprey species (including the sea lamprey) are imperiled in their native ranges. In both management scenarios, behavioral manipulation tactics to control movement and distribution are desired. Therefore, we describe the hearing ability and behavioral responses of adult and juvenile sea lamprey to sound to reveal how hearing may have evolved in vertebrates and determine possible management applications. Based on auditory evoked potentials, sea lamprey detected tones of 50–300 Hz with equal sensitivity, but did not detect sounds above 300 Hz. In a laboratory bioassay, sea lamprey behaviorally responded to sound range of 50–200 Hz, with a general increase in swimming and a decrease in resting behaviours at both juvenile and adult stages relative to no-sound controls. To our knowledge, this is the first test of lamprey hearing, and the results support that sound may be a means to modify lamprey behaviour for management purposes.