Is it true that all fish are dumb?

It is believed that fish cannot speak, that is, they do not make sounds for interspecific and intraspecific communication. We decided to check if this is really the case.

This myth has existed for hundreds of years. Phraseologisms came from him "dumb as a fish" And “silent like a fish on ice”. It was used in titles books about marine mammals and films. Users are interested, are all fish dumb, on popular services questions And answers. 

Fish really don't speak the way humans or land-dwelling animals do, because they don't have vocal cords. However, scientists claimthat fish are quite sociable creatures. They can make various sounds using gills, fins or teeth: these can be low-frequency pops, croaking, gurgling, growling. During a 2014 study, American scientists recorded about 80 different sound signals made by fish. This mainly occurred during fighting, courtship, feeding or defending nests.

Researchers They say, that it is by the sounds of fish that they navigate where they should settle. Scientists were even planning to use recordings of such sounds to attract marine mammals to the Great Barrier Reef, thus saving it from gradual extinction. By the way, by the sounds made by marine invertebrates and fish, scientists can determine the condition of coral reefs: low frequency the sounds indicate that everything is alright high frequency - indicate problems. 

Cornell University scientists found outthat fish have been able to communicate using sounds for 155 million years - their “speech” arose around the same time as mammals on land. And during this time, it changed 33 times - which means it was important in an evolutionary sense. One of the authors of this study, Aaron Rice, has been conducting research for 20 years database with audio recordings of fish communication. He asserts, that, like people, fish are mainly concerned about food and sex - this is what they talk about. Although Pisces' love songs are nothing like Taylor Swift's vocals. For example, in damselfish fish such sounds are more likely remind the grinding of windshield wipers (biologists shared audio recordings of these sounds). And in 2008 in Florida there was incident, when local residents complained about the constant noise of renovation work, which turned out to be the sound made by drummer fish during mating season.

Despite the fact that fish are rarely heard from the surface of the water, it is not necessary to dive to the Great Barrier Reef to listen to them: enthusiastic researchers have already recorded fish conversations using underwater recording devices and posted them on the Internet.

Moreover, scientists were able even choral singing can be recorded in fish. The researchers installed two sound recording devices on the west coast of Australia: one offshore and the other 21 km away. They tracked the sounds for 18 months and recorded both individual vocal signals and entire choirs into which these sounds were added. It turned out that at certain times of the year (for example, during the rainy seasons) fish are the most talkative. 

Thus, in the usual sense, fish really cannot talk, since they do not have the necessary speech apparatus for this. But at the same time, many of their species make a variety of sounds using different parts of their body and are quite capable of communicating, and have been doing this for as long as mammals.

Mostly not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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