TAMPA — Sara Healy just wants an answer to an ongoing South Tampa mystery.
“I feel like I’m living my best Nancy Drew life right now,” she said.
It’s bass sound she said you don’t really hear, you experience.
The sound Sara is talking about was recorded by Dr. James Locascio when he did a dissertation on the phenomenon almost 20 years ago in Southwest Florida.
“They used to call it the Punta Gorda growl in the 1970s. So down there, it’s been going on or known about for a long time,” he said.
“It’s just like a low hum or a vibration more than a sound,” said Healy.
Everyone has their own theory as to what is causing the noise.
“The most common belief is that this is just a party or a boat somewhere that’s blasting some music and has some serious bass going on,” said Healy.
There are more colorful explanations, like testing at MacDill Air Force Base.
“Or it could be something more exciting like aliens,” said Healy.
Locascio, who is a scientist at Mote Marine Laboratory, said he has the likely answer.
He said the black drum fish produce a bass sound during mating season.
You can hear it in a recent video from Captain Dustin Pack of Fly Tide Charters.
“There are a lot of different sound producers. Vertebrates produce sound. Many fishes produce sound. Marine mammals produce sound,” said Locascio.
See Through Canoe shared their drone video of a school of hundreds of black drum fish near Madeira Beach.
So you can imagine how much sound they might all produce together.
Healy wants an answer so badly she started a GoFundMe to raise the money needed for Locascio to do more research using underwater microphones.
“It feels like a fun adventure that I can really get behind to help the community and further science and maybe learn something in the process,” said Healy.
