All manner of croaks, chirps, and deep trombone moans permeate Earth's
waters, just like the cacophony of sounds that fill its forest air. For
example, reefs are surprisingly noisy places, and many of the noisemakers
are fish.
"We've known for a long time that some fish make sounds, but fish sounds
were always perceived as rare oddities,'' said Cornell University ecologist
Aaron Rice.
It was likely assumed fish relied primarily on other means of communication,
from color signals and body language to electricity. But recent discoveries
have demonstrated fish even have dawn and dusk choruses, just like birds.
"They've probably been overlooked because fishes are not easily heard or
seen, and the science of underwater acoustic communication has primarily
focused on whales and dolphins," said Cornell evolutionary neuroscientist
Andrew Bass.
"But fishes have voices too."
And some sound like the most magnificent foghorn:
Scouring records of anatomical descriptions, sound recordings, and vocal
accounts, Rice and colleagues identified several physiological features that
allow the ray-finned (Actinopterygii) group of fishes to make these noises
without vocal cords. This group contains more than 34,000 currently living
species.
"They can grind their teeth or make movement noise in the water, and we do
see a number of specializations that are involved," Rice told Syfy
Wire.
"Probably the most common adaptation are muscles associated with swim
bladders. In fact, the swim bladder muscles of the toadfish are the fastest
contracting vertebrate skeletal muscles. These are high-performing
adaptations."
Of 175 families of fishes, two-thirds were likely to communicate with sound
– much more talkative fish than the one-fifth previously estimated. Analysis
suggests these vocal communications may have evolved independently at least
33 times in fishes. Clearly, fish have some important things to say.
What's more, fish-speak appeared around 155 million years ago, which
interestingly happens to be around the same time evidence suggests land
animals with backbones first vocalized too – animals we eventually evolved
from.
"Our results strongly support the hypothesis that soniferous behavior is
ancient," the team wrote in their paper. "Together, these findings highlight
the strong selection pressure favoring the evolution of this character
across vertebrate lineages."
Some fish groups were chattier than others, with toadfish and catfish
amongst the most verbose groups. However, Rice and the team caution that
their analysis only shows the presence of vocalizing fish rather than the
presence of absence – it may just be that we just haven't listened hard
enough to hear the other groups out yet.
As for what they're trying to say, fish are probably jabbering about food,
warnings of danger, social happenings (including territorial arguments), and
of course, sex. But who knows what other fishy secrets they may recite!
Some researchers have even been trying to use fish songs as underwater siren
calls to beckon fish back to rejuvenating coral reefs.
"Fish do everything. They breathe air, they fly, they eat anything and
everything – at this point, nothing would surprise me about fishes and the
sounds that they can make," said Rice.
Reference:
Aaron N. Rice, Stacy C. Farina, Andrea J. Makowski, Ingrid M. Kaatz, Phillip
S. Lobel, William E. Bemis, Andrew H. Bass. Evolutionary Patterns in Sound
Production across Fishes. Ichthyology & Herpetology, 2022; 110 (1)
DOI: 10.1643/i2020172
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Plants & Animals