Clever Seals Use Deep-Sea Sonar as a Dinner Bell 🦭

A colony of cheeky seals have been caught using deep-sea research sonar noise as a dinner bell.<br /><br />The clever marine mammals are believed to have learned to associate the sonar with a good feeding spot where fish may have been disturbed by camera lights.<br /><br />Researchers became so familiar with the repeat visitors they named them after members of The Beach Boys.<br /><br />The Northern elephant seals were repeatedly captured on camera in the deep Pacific Ocean using sonar from an Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) observatory as a signal to forage for their next fish feast, according to a new study led by University of Victoria (UVic) researchers.<br /><br />The findings came almost by chance, as UVic, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM-CSIC), a Barcelona-based research institute, and ONC researchers were studying the effects of light and bait on fish and invertebrate behaviour at Barkley Canyon, off the coast of southern Vancouver Island.