Loudspeakers are bringing fish back to coral reefs

Scientists may have uncovered a cool way of bringing fish back to coral reefs around the world.

A team from universities in the UK and Australia placed underwater loudspeakers in the Great Barrier Reef.

They played sounds of healthy reefs in patches of dead coral and found twice as many fish arrived - and stayed - compared to places where no sound was played.

It's hoped this discovery could help to restore damaged coral reefs.

The Great Barrier Reef is under threat from coral bleaching

Why do healthy coral sounds make a difference?

Tim Gordon from the University of Exeter said "healthy coral reefs are remarkably noisy places - the crackle of snapping shrimp and the whoops and grunts of fish".

Reefs become quiet when they are damaged as shrimps and fish disappear but using loudspeakers to play out this noise can attract young fish back again. Which is pretty cool right?!

Fish are able to clean the reef and create space for corals to re-grow, so they're really useful for its survival.

The study found that broadcasting healthy reef sound doubled the total number of fish arriving onto experimental patches of reef habitat, as well as increasing the number of species present by 50%.

Tim also said "whilst attracting more fish won't save coral reefs on its own, new techniques like this give us more tools in the fight to save these precious and vulnerable ecosystems."

Let us know what you think of the idea in the comments below.