The mysterious sounds of fish in the ocean

It was the end of January 2005 when the spawning season of a fish called the black drum began. Calls for partners echoed in the middle of the night. But none of the people living in that area realized that this long, chaotic sound originated in the sea.

Retired people often went to the quiet estuary of Guft Bay in Florida during the winter break. They often complain about the utility system here. Even these people forced the City Committee to spend more than $ 47,000 for technical repairs to eliminate the noise lurking in their homes.

But James Locascio, a postdoctoral fellow in marine biology science at the University of South Florida, saved the city from a costly public project. After reading the article in the newspaper, Locascio called the City Committee to discuss for hours before voting to pay. He explained that at frequencies of 100 to 500 Hz, the call to find black mates has a low enough frequency and has a long enough wavelength to penetrate the sea dams, cross the land, through the houses on the harbor with the feeling of a thud as a car passes by.

The voice of the black drum mates echoed everywhere, through the dam to prevent each house.(Photo: Steven Senne / Associated Press)

Locascio said: 'The black drum fish particularly favor the canal system of Cape Coral. The bass reverberating for you at night is no different from the sound of dripping water from day to day for months . '

At first, people refused to accept that explanation.'The most complaining and stubborn people claim that there is no way a fish will be able to hear sounds that are heard in the house.'

Locascio and David Mann - a marine plant and animal biologist at the University of South Florida and a bio sound researcher - have taken unbelievers to participate in the study by asking them to write sound intensity and time back into a small notebook. Locascio said: 'We took the notes from the people and let them hear the sound of the drum fish that we collected by underwater headphones. Indeed they fit perfectly together. '

Puffer fish also emits sound (Photo: Fred Bavendam / Minden Pictures)

Two decades ago there was a similar situation occurring in Sausalito, Calif., When the boat people always endured the call of puffer fish. In an article in Marin Independent Journal, it said: 'We could not immediately believe that the sound of bagpipes made the Sausalito people living in boat houses stay up all night because of the romantic puffer fish. , humming Indian love songs with their own language. '

Greg Coppa, a retired science high school teacher, was also laughed at when he said he heard the noise of fish while sailing near Block Island in the state of Rhode Island. Coppa smiled and said: 'Some people even asked me what I drank before I heard those sounds, or gave me a reserved look for a good but pitiful friend. '.

With the support of Rodney A. Rountree - an experienced scientist at Marine Ecology and Technical Applications - and an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Coppa learned that fish which he imagines is a large creature living in the sea that is actually a fairy-tailed little black fish that sounds like a jackhammer.

Naturalists have learned from time immemorial as Aristot knows that fish can produce sound. But since 1956 when Jacques Cousteau gave his document the name 'Silent World' , all public imagination about the underwater world was taken away, ignoring our ears. the sound of the fish, the chirping, the whining, the sound like a bagpipe or the call to you. Dr. Rountree said: 'Cousteau's diving ship hides every sound of the sea. The real ocean is a bustling place. '

The ocean has about 30,000 resident species but only about 1,200 species can produce known sounds and much less recorded species of sound . The normal goldfish can only be included in two scientific editions. Philip Lobel, a professor of biology at Boston University, said: 'Most fish can actually make sounds. But raising a fish in a glass tank is like raising a canary in a soundproof cage '.

A puffer fish (Photo: Yuriko Nakao / Reuters)

The most complete set of books on fish sounds was published in 1973 with two very well-known authors, Marie Poland Fish and William H. Mowbray. They both worked at Narragansett Marine Laboratories at Rhode Island State University. They are allowed to use the Navy studio set up to detect enemy submarines. Due to the noisy sounds of the sea that dispersed the military's objectives, they were invited to classify biological sounds with man-made sounds. The result is the work of 'Sound of fish species in the Northeast Atlantic region: A reference to underwater biological sounds' distinguishes the sounds of more than 150 species of fish.

For most fish species, their pronunciation mechanism originates from vibrating bubbles, unlike our vocal cords . The fish bubble is a gas bag to help the fish float, but it is also used as a drum. Gulf's puffer fish attaches its sound muscles to bubbles thousands of times a minute to emit a loud sound. With a frequency nearly three times the average number of winged hummingbirds, puffer fish is the fastest muscle in the vertebrate class. The black-weasel weasels bend the bones around the bubble, the clown fish use ligaments to create chirps.

Some other fish make snoring, or rub bone together to make sounds like comb teeth, or they can use pectoral fins to create sound. The herring is very funny with the sound like a ticking repetitive with intense intensity by emitting bubbles from their anus.

The herring is very funny with the sound like a ticking repetitive with intense intensity by emitting bubbles from their anus.(Photo: Jockel Finck / Associated Press)

Although well researched, the mechanisms of pronunciation in many species remain a mystery. The sound of fish is a way to invite a mate, to show an attitude to an invader, or to express fear or a dangerous situation. However, their other implications are still unexplainable.

Andrew H. Bass, Cornell University professor of neuroscience and behavioral biology, said: 'Fish has a rather sophisticated and complex mechanism for communicating by sound with different meanings depending on into the social environment of that sound. Audio communication is probably the first evolutionary form of social communication in fish '.

Although the sound of fish is very diverse and sometimes powerful, it is rare that we can hear it on land because the separation of air and water has created a natural barrier. Sound often bounces back when exposed to the air and water interface. A rather sophisticated and less expensive underwater headset supported the study, creating a more effective passive reverberation.

Dr. Rountree placed this underwater headset off Cape Cod during the first passive acoustic survey in the area. He was very surprised when he obtained many forms of chirping of eel fish because no one knew they lived in the area. Researchers at the nearby Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute have not discovered the eel fish for more than 100 years, although they have conducted extensive surveys.

Sound in the ocean

Gerald D'Spain of Scripps Oceanographic Institute in San Diego also made an unusual discovery. Dr. D'Spain recalled that he recorded the sound of barren fish along the Pacific coast from Ensenada to Point Loma. He compared the sound to 'human waves' at a stadium, a beachside concert chorus like spectators standing up and cheering. He also said that he believed the choir was transmitted from one fish to another at a rate nearly equal to the rate of sound propagation in the water - nearly 4.5 times the speed of sound spread in the air.

This headset also brings the mysteries of the ocean, which is the sound of unknown fish and other marine creatures. Dr. Mann and University of South Florida and naval researcher Susan Jarvis have discovered a mysterious fish in the Bahamas that can make calls from a depth of 600 meters. Dr. Mann said: 'We know there is a sound source out there. We know where it is but we don't know what it is. '

Unfortunately, not everyone who hears the sounds of fishes conduct research. Chinese fishermen have used underwater headphones to locate nearly extinct crimson fish. Their bubbles cost up to $ 60,000 from its famous therapeutic use.

Dolphins also rely on the murmur of fish that track their prey. Joseph J. Luczkovich, associate professor of biology at East Carolina, said: '10 fish species topping the list of dolphins' menus can sound.'

As we become increasingly aware of the importance of calling for partners during the spawning season of the fish, we are even more aware of a significant concern. The surrounding noises from oil tankers, subway detectors or oil detectors often come out at the same sound frequency as the fish's call. Those sounds could cut off the fish's communication wires.

The National Marine Fisheries Agency, supported by researchers, listens to the sounds of all marine creatures, including not only whales and dolphins. Since fish species are often used to prepare dishes such as cod, grouper and oyster fish, it is only sound recording, so the sound recording of marine life also brings potential in aquatic exploitation management. production in the time when the number of seafood is declining as today.

Brandon Southall, director of oceanic acoustics programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said: "By listening to the sounds of the ocean, there are many things that help us determine what is going on." exists and takes place in the ocean. '

The agency hopes passive sound can help identify breeding areas that need to be protected by fish and can be used as a tool to accurately assess the number of individuals. According to Boston University Dr. Lobel, this harmless technique is a big step forward.

He added: 'If there is no passive sound, fishermen can catch endangered fish such as cod, causing them to become extinct if they are in the egg-laying stage. People are taking millions of tons of fish just to find out where they spawn. '

Hear more sounds of some fish species