Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-12-05
QUEER FISH.
Members OF the Finny Tribe with n
LANGUAGE.

Members OF the Finny Tribe with n
Language.
A writer in the Philadelphia Times,
writing of his experiences. among the
fishermen Of AIarblehead, says:
"Among the fishes here that utter
sounds are the dogfsh, the Gunner,
angler etc. The former, as might be
expected, utters short bark, some
thing like that of dog. In all about
fifty fishes are known that have Ian
guage. Our skipper informs us that
when he was 'a-whalin'' he has heard
whales cry out, and that blackfsh utter
a strange sound is common belief
along the coast, but as these are
mammals it might be expected. 1t is
difficult to determine how the sound is
made, In some it is due to the action
of the pneumatic duct and swimming
bladder, while in others it may be made
involuntarily by the lips or the pharyn-
geal or intermediary bones, In the
curious trigla that one of the party
landed the swimming-bladder has a
diaphragm and muscles for opening
and closing it, producing a gcntle,mur-
muring sound. In the catlishes, that
are noted takers the sounds are pro-
duced by their forcing air from the air.
bladder into the asophagus. This is
also the case with the eel, whose voice
is said to be the most musical of all
fishes, having a metallic trill to it.
Perhaps the loudest-yoiced fish is the
grunt-a fish of the genus Hosmulon
their noise having been heard two
hundred feet away.
"That fishes uttered sounds was well
known to the ancients. Aristotle
mentions a fish by the name Of choiros,
or pig as inhabiting the River Clitor,
in the Mediterranean, and as being one
Of the fishes that have the power of
emitting sounds. On visit to Bate
carla, on the north coast of Ceylon, Sir
Emerson Tennent heard wonderful
tales of musical sounds that were
alleged to issue from the bottom Of the
lake, and on the lake, in q boat, on a
calm night, he distinctly heard, he
says, the sounds. They cameup from
the water like the gentle thrills of a
musical chord or the faintest viOra-
tions of wine-glass when its rim is
rubbed by a wet finger. 1t was not
one sustained note, but multitude Of
tiny sounds, each clear and distinct in
itself. In the days of old Rome eels
were believed to talk, and the Emperor
Augustus proCessed to understand
their language. The loudest sounds
are made by the pagonias, or drum-fsh,
and the prionotus, called the pig-fsh
on the Jersey coast, because of the
loud croaks it gives ttterance to when
drawn to the shore in nets. Professor
Baird who Investigated this, has eX'
pressed the opinion that the sounds
came from the belly of the fish. The
maigre makes strange, cooling noise,
not unlike moan, accompanied by a
sharp croak, which has been heard at a
depth of two hundred feet. Another
genus Of this fish is called by the Ital-
ians corvo, or crow. The sound of a
bell, which is occasionally heard from
the depths of the Mediterranean Sea, is
attributed by some to the coryo, while
. others think that shelly mOllusks pro-
1uce these singular sounds. The
sleeper in his berth has often been
: startled by the peculiar noises made by
the drum-fsh on our own coast, and
Sir John Richardson says that he was
, prevented from sleeping by the noise
made by these fish when off the coast
Of Carolina"
Lieutenant John White also says
: that on his voyage to China, when his
ship was anchored at the mouth of the
River Camboya, the sailors were much
lstonished at the curious sounds that
, issued from the water, resembling the
, bass of an organ mingled with the
tones of bell, the croaking of an
enormous frog and the clang of an i'm
, mense harp. These sounds swelled
, into gentle chorus on both sides OF
, the ship and were attributadby the in
, terpreter to a school of fish. a SINH
, lar occurrence in the South Sea was
, described by Baron Humboldt. The
> sailors were greatly terrified at about
t seven o'clock inthe evening by an eX
4 traordinary noise in the air, like The
l beating of tambourines, followed by
sounds which resembled the escape OF
air from boiling liquid. AT 8 O'Clock
Q these strange sounds, which, it was
+; judged proceeded from a school oi
) seioenoides, ceased. The gizzard shad
known scientifically as the lorosoma
utters a distinct, vibratory, whining
sound. The mullet utter5 a dlstinc
Q note, often quite prolonged, and ac
o companied by discharge of air
@ bubbles,