Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1883-12-13
QUEER FISH.
vi emberH OF the Finny Tribe with a
Language.

! Members OF the Ftmny Tribe with IN
Language
A writer in the Philadelphia Times,
writing of his experiences among the
fishermen of Marblehead, says:
among the fishes here that utter
sounds are the dogfish, the Gunner,
angler, etc The former, as might be
expected, utters a short bark, some
thing like that of dog. In all about
fifty fishes are known that have a 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 a common belief
along the coast, but as these are
mammals it might he expected. 1t is
difficult to determine how the sound is
made. In some it is due to the action
Of the pneumatic duet and swimming
bladder, while in others it may be made
inYoluntarily by the lips or the pharyn-
geal or intermediary bones In the
curious trigla that one of { party
landed the swimming-bladder has a
diaphragm and muscles for opening
and closing il, producing a gentle, muir
muring sound. In the cathshes, that
are noted takers the sounds are pro-
duced by their forcing air from the air.
bladder into the Rsophagus. 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 HosmUloR
their noise haYing 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 us being one
Of tho fishes that have the power of
emitting sounds On a 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 a boat. on a
calm night, he distinctly heard, he
says, the sounds. They cameu up from
the water like the gentle thrills Of
musical chord or the faintest vibra-
tions Of wine-glass when its rim is
rubbed by wet finger. 1t was not
one sustained note, but a multitude OF
tiny sounds, each clear ana distinct In
itself. In the days of old Rome eels
were believed to talk, and the Emperor
Augustus professed 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 utterance 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 fsh. The
maigre makes a strange, cooling noise,
not unlike a moan, accompanied by
sharp croak, which has been heard at
depth of two hundred feet. Another
genus of this fish is called by the Ital-
ianS Gorvo, or crow. The sound of a
bell, which is occasionally heard from
the depths of the Mediterranean Sea, is
attributed by some to the corvo, while
others think that shelly mollusks pro-
duce these singular sounds. The
sleeper liz 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
astonished at the curious sounds that
issued from the water, resembling the
bass of an organ mingled with the
tones of a bell, the croaking of an
enormous frog and the clang of an i'm
mense harp. These sounds swelled
into a gentle chorus on both sides of
the ship and were attributed by the in
terpreter to school of fish. A SINH
lar occurrence in the South Sea was
described by Baron Humboldt The
sailors were greatly terrified at about
seven o'clock in the evening by an ex-
traordinary noise IN the air, like the
beating of tambourines, followed by
sounds which resembled the escape of
air from boiling liquid. At 9 o'clock
these strange sounds, which, it was
judged proceeded from a school of
seioenoides, ceased. The gizzard shad,
known scientifically as the lOrosoma,
utters a distinct, vibratory, whining
sound. The mullet utters a distinct
note, often quite prolonged, and ac-