As a result of a Greaves Summer Research project, a student initiated a study of underwater sounds--those produced both artificially and naturally.  The intent of the project was to collect and analyze sounds produced by a variety of fishing lures, then to compare the sound spectrums with those produced by the food chain of fish--basically crawfish and minnows.  The latter proved to be difficult as the detection (very low level) and isolation (difficult to isolate from the background) of these sounds could not be accomplished within the time frame of the summer period.  With the advent of the Newport Aquarium the potential exists for some cooperative efforts, at least a setting where background sounds are less likely to be a problem than in a natural setting.
Since this particular project was proposed a new aspect has evolved.  Questions have been posed concerning a fish's ability to localize a sound source in stained water.  It has been suggested that particulates suspended in stained water would scatter sound, thus making it difficult to localize the source of the sound.  So an extension of the original project will be to investigate a source of sound in a stained-water environment, i.e., can the location of the source be identified.  This project is to be investigated in a laboratory setting, unlike other projects.

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