Imaging techniques to study the effects of low frequency sounds on cephalopods spp.

The introduction of artificial sound sources in the marine environment has shown to have negative effects on marine organisms. While marine mammals have attracted most of the attention of the research conducted in that area, invertebrates are also suspected to be negatively affected after an exposure to loud low frequency noise. An ongoing study from the Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics of the Technical University of Catalonia is studying through imaging techniques (routine histology and SEM) the possible lesions in the statocysts of three cephalopod species (Sepia officinalis, Loligo vulgaris and Octopus vulgaris) as the likely most sensitive organ to high intensity noise.