title: Long-range underwater vocalizations of the crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophaga).
abstract: This study provides a comprehensive description of the acoustic characteristics of the predominant long-range underwater vocalizations of the crabeater seal, Lobodon carcinophaga, derived from stationary and continuous long-term recordings obtained in the Southern Ocean in 2007. Visual screening of data recorded between 1 October and 15 December 2007 indicates that the principal period of vocal activity of the crabeater seal is the latter part of October and all of November, coinciding with the breeding season of this species. Two call types were identified during this period: the low moan call, which has been described in previous studies and the high moan call, a call type newly described here. Out of 17 052 manually extracted crabeater seal calls, high-quality recordings of 152 low moans and 86 high moans with a signal-to-noise ratio exceeding 15 dB were selected and call-specific acoustic features were determined. While the mean duration of the two call types was comparable ( approximately 2.5 s), the high moan occurred at notably higher frequencies (1000-4900 Hz) than the low moan (260-2500 Hz). This study provides baseline information necessary to develop automated detection algorithms to facilitate systematic screening of extended data sets for crabeater seal vocalizations.
authors.affiliation: Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, 2030 Marine Science Drive, Newport, Oregon 97365, USA. holger.klinck@oregonstate.edu
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Klinck
authors.forename: David K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Mellinger
authors.forename: Karolin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Klinck
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hager
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kindermann
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Boebel
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000818:Animals; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D001947:Breeding; D010872:Caniformia / Q000502:physiology*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D012621:Seasons; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D014828:Vocalization, Animal