Fish talk to each other, researcher finds...
Fish communicate with noises including grunts, chirps and pops, University of Auckland marine scientist Shahriman Ghazali has discovered according to newspaper reports Wednesday.
"All fish can hear, but not all can make sound -- pops and other sounds made by vibrating their swim bladder, a muscle they can contract," Ghazali told the New Zealand Herald.
Fish are believed to communicate with each other for different reasons, including attracting mates, scaring off predators or orienting themselves.
The gurnard species has a wide vocal repertoire and keeps up a constant chatter, Ghazali found after studying different species of fish placed into tanks.
...
But anyone hoping to strike up a conversation with their pet goldfish is out of luck.
"Goldfish have excellent hearing, but excellent hearing doesn't associate with vocalisation -- they don't make any sound whatsoever," Ghazali said.
We all know people who won't eat meat with explanations ranging from dietary to personal preference to "if it has a face, I won't eat it." Some of these same people will eat shrimp or fish without batting an eye. Even some who won't eat anything with a face, will still eat a fish. This surprises me, because fish often have lovely faces and some so ugly you would shudder if confronted in a nightmare. Since they often arrive to our kitchens without faces, fins and frames as unemotive reams of filets. I can only imagine this may be a reason why face-fearing people give fish a pass to eat them.
Will the fish-only crowd verging on vegetarians, turn tail when they learn fish not only talk, they listen!
Regards,