Grunting Fish
Friday, July 18th, 2008
The BBC website has had some good things on it recently, and here’s another. Apparently grunting fish have helped scientists to date the origins of vocal sound to 400 million years ago.
Since I didn’t even realise that fish which can grunt even existed, I found the story interesting. Humming toadfish (also called the Midshipman) are bottom dwellers from the west coast of the US. The males carve out nests under the rocks, and then spend hours humming to attract females. They also growl to keep competitors away.
Andrew Bass from Cornell University mapped out the neural circuits involved in making these sounds and found they are remarkably similar to other animals that vocalise. It is a very ancient part of the nervous system which is shared by all vertebrates, implying that it evolved before the various branches split, which allowed him to date it as being from 400 million years ago.
The above photo is from Science’s website and credit for it should go to Margaret A. Marchaterre/Cornell University.
You can read more from the BBC website and there are a couple of videos of them in action.
