Noisy boats can cause temporary deafness in squid
The ever-present din of vessel traffic means squid’s delicate statocysts, or hearing organs, may never get enough time to recover. Marine Biological Laboratory Cephalopod Program This article was originally featured on Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at hakaimagazine.com. Standing next to the speakers at a loud concert can leave your ears ringing. Some squid, it turns out, are much the same: listening to just 15 minutes of boat noise makes hummingbird bobtail squid temporarily deaf. Even though the animals can regain their hearing within hours, the ever-present din of human noise pollution means squid may never get the chance to recover. Squid’s noise sensitivity stems from the structure of their hearing organs, a pair of tiny fluid-filled sacs called statocysts. Similar to the human...