Summer is coming, and soon beaches will be full of the sounds of people having fun: splashing (泼洒) in waves and playing in the sand. But imagine finding a quieter spot of ocean. If you could stick your ears under the water, you might hear other sounds. And many of those sounds are made by fish.
People have known that fish make sounds since ancient Greece; that is why they gave some fish names like red drum, pig fish or croaker. "They're based on the sounds these fish make," said Audrey Looby. She studies fish sounds at the University of Florida.
So far, about 1,000 fish species have been recorded making sounds. Looby's favorite-sounding fish is the Gulf toadfish. It makes an amazing sound like a boat whistle. Scientists are not sure how many fish make sounds. Some think that it might be as many as 22,000 types, about two-thirds of the 34,000 fish species known. And those are just the sounds fish make on purpose.
Fish sounds are important because they give a lot of information about what is going on to other fish, and to scientists. If scientists hear a fish chewing, then they know there is food available. The warning noises of certain fish species give information, too. They can tell scientists how many fish are living on a reef and where they are located. And fish sounds can tell where the endangered species are located, too, said Looby.
Fish sounds might even help preserve and bring back fish habitats. For example, scientists want to try playing healthy fish sounds in a reef that is dying. The healthy sounds might encourage fish to return and live in the dying reef. "Learning about fish sounds lets us learn about underwater environments and hopefully manage them at the same time," Looby said.
