This fish is so noisy when it mates it muffles its predators

Jose Hernaiz – stock.adobe.com
A bench of acoupas

Hélène Laurin

Wednesday, 20 December 2017 17:16

UPDATE
Wednesday, 20 December 2017 17:16

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The hake of the gulf is the “fish the loudest ever documented”. It is noisy to the point where it could deafen the dolphins and sea lions, their natural enemies, as mentioned in an article published in the scientific journal Biology Letters.

The hake of the Gulf is a silver fish, which measures less than a meter. It does not look anything like that, but it is the sound that it emits that pique the curiosity. Actually, the sound that it emits to attract females is similar to that of a machine gun and it is almost as loud as the sound emitted by a whale.

When he finds himself in the gang, the decibel level is similar to that of a crowd shouting in a stadium (!).

At what time is found there in the gang? When it needs to mate! As well, each spring, all acoupas of the gulf, adults are found in a radius of 27 km in the delta of the Colorado river. It’s been 1.5 million individuals who cry out as sub-machine guns, or who design these screams like a love song irresistible.

The marine biologists Brad E. Erisma and Timothy J. Rowell have recorded and analyzed the noise produced by the acoupas of the gulf, to realize that this cacophony could damage temporarily – and perhaps permanently – the hearing of its natural predators, such as seals, dolphins or sea lions.

But a question remains: how the hell this fish is not so big happens to make so much noise? The males of this species are equipped with muscles vibrating around their swim bladder, a sac in their abdomen. These muscles the vibration imposed on the bladder, as would be the case of the wand on a box drum. In short, it resonates hard.

The hake of the gulf is a species considered vulnerable, as it is surpêchée. It is necessary to say that during this famous period of mating, a single fishing boat can catch two tonnes of hake in just a few minutes.

Thus, the sound extraordinary could disappear if measures are not taken.

To learn more, you can read these articles
Guardian and
Washington Post.

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