A new study by American scientists from Cornell University has shown that fish communicate through sound much more often than is commonly believed, and some fish have been using this method of communication for at least 155 million years. An article about this was published in the journal Ichthyology & Herpetology.

"We've known for a long time that some fish can make sounds," said lead author Aaron Rice of the Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at Cornell University's Ornithology Lab. “However, these sounds were previously perceived as rare deviations. We decided to find out whether these phenomena should be considered isolated cases or whether there is an established widespread model of acoustic communication in fish.”

The authors examined an extensive class of fish called ray-finned fish - Actinopterygii - to which the vast majority of modern fish species belong. Of these, 175 families were identified, comprising two-thirds of the known fish species that communicate or can communicate using sounds. After studying the family tree of these fish, the researchers found that sound was so important in their lives that these abilities have evolved at least 33 times over millions of years. Many fish have important morphological features associated with sound: most of these families have muscles that provide sound vibration of the swim bladder, while others use the movement of parts of the skeleton relative to each other, i.e., stridulation.

What are the fish talking about? Pretty much the same thing people talk about - sex and food. Rice explains that fish usually either try to attract mates, protect their food sources and territory, or let others know where they are. Even some of the common fish names are based on the sounds they make. Examples are white pigs, wild boar fish, squeaking or singing catfish, gurnards, drummer fish and many others.

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