What does a coral reef coming back to life sound like?

ITV News Reporter Chloe Keedy reports on the fascinating sounds of a healthy coral reef

Scientists are discovering strange new sounds made by fish which indicate that a coral reef is coming back to life.

Marine biologist at the University of Exeter, Dr Tim Lamont, told ITV News: "You can see some of the animals on a reef, but there is a lot of the reef that is a hidden world, and so the sounds of a bustling vibrant, busy reef is one that is loud and diverse.

"And so to hear that really just fills your heart with joy”.

The coral reefs in Indonesia were once thousands of square metres of watery wasteland, devoid of life and colour, reduced to rubble by dynamite used for fishing.But now, the're alive with the wondrous and bizzare sounds of fish after the damage was repaired by carpets of so-called reef stars - metal frames covered with fragments of live coral.

While scientists have shown that reefs can be rebuilt, they say that it's up to all of us to help them survive.

“So in this case it was a fortunate situation where there’d previously been very destructive fishing practices and those have now been managed so they're not there anymore," Dr Lamont explained.

"In cases where the reefs are still being threatened by other damaging threats, by climate change, for example, by water pollution, there’s no point trying to rebuild a reef when that is still happening because the reef will die again".