Ship Noise Affects Metabolism of Crabs: Study

It is known that marine life is extremely sensitive to noise pollution. In most cases, the death of the animal occurs shortly after the exposure to extreme noise. Most of them fail to acclimatize to the new environment. The sensitivity to noise differs in various marine animals.

According to a latest study from the University of Bristol and Exeter, ship noise has a great impact on the metabolism of a crab, especially large crabs. The researchers have gained evidence which shows that crabs accustom to noise gradually.

The team noticed that when crabs were exposed to recordings of ship noise, they showed an increase in their metabolic rate. This means their stress levels had inched up.

This could have an implication on growth in the real world. The noise that increases their metabolic rate causes the crabs to spend extra time in their foraging activity, thereby increasing the risk of predation.

Researcher Matt Wale from Bristol's School of Biological Sciences stated in a press release, with the help of control experiments it was seen how shore crabs of various sizes react to single and frequent exposure to playback of ship noise.

Dr. Andy Radford, Reader in Behavioural Ecology at Bristol said, "We found that the metabolic rate of crabs exposed to ship noise was higher than those experiencing ambient harbour noise, and that larger individuals were affected most strongly. This is the first indication that there might be different responses to noise depending on the size of an individual."

The link revealed through the study will have implications for the fisheries in busy shipping areas, if commercially important crabs and lobsters are affected by the noise. High yields can be achieved by reducing the noise pollution, as it reduces the metabolic cost.

The study was published in the journal Biology Letters.