Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1912-09-06
FISH TRY TO SING.
Finny VocaIists Are to Be Found
In Many Places.
GIVE FORTH SWEET SOUNDS.
One Specimen Initiates the Faint vi
brations of WnesIsss When the
Rim Is Rubbed by Wet Finger Tip,
Each Note Being Clear and Distinct.

In no class of the animal kingdom
are there so many curious examples rs
that which comprehends the finny
tribes of sea, lake and river. OF these
there is none more remarkable than
the so called musical fish.
If there is one common characters
tic of all marine animals more note
worthy than another it is their abso-
lutte silence or voicelessness. The only
exception to this is the fish that sings.
It's music is heard only at night or in
the evening after the sun has set, and
particular places appear to be frequent
ed by the fish, for on sailing away
from them the sound becomes inaudi-
bic. and on returning 1t is heard again.
In long notes, low and clear and per-
fectly distinct, the sounds always seem
to come up from the surface of the
water
At one locality, Chilka lake, an inlet
of the sea on the east coast of Ceylon,
says the London Tit-Bits, the musical
fish give forth sounds like the gentle
thrills OF musical chord or the faint
vibrations Of wineglass when its rim
is rubbed by wet finger tip-a multi
tude Of tiny sounds, each clear and dis
tinct in itself, the sweetest treble
mingling with the lowest bass. The
fish appear to abound off the Cinga-
lese coast, and they have been met
with out at sea in deep soundings at
least 100 miles FROM Ceylon.
Their strange music has also been
heard In the muddy creeks near Bonn
bay and Salsette and at ViZagapatam
and along the Coromandel coast. 1t Is
audible on a calm night among the is
lands Of the Mergui archipelago, off
the coast of Burmah, and, too, In the
fresh water of the Sarumoth river, In
Borneo, and the notes have been COM
pared to the rising and falling Of an
aeolian harp or to music borne on the
wind from a distant shore.
The natives along the coast of the
bay of Pailon, in Ecuador, where this
extraordinary phenomenon of the ma
rine world is to be heard singing
through the night, call it the "siren,"
or the "musico," the drowsy music,
all of one pitch, filling the calm air
seductively.
What manner Of fish it is that pro-
duces the sound has as vet not been
definitely ascertained. American nat
uralists generally postulate that the
musical fish Of their coasts and of the
West Indies, in especial of the Bacos
islands. near Trinidad, where it
abounds, is a large fish known to ZOO
logists as the Bagona's chromis,
growing to five feet In length and
swimming about in shoals. In the gull
let of the fish are three movable plates,
covered with large teeth, and it is
supposed that it is the action Of these
that produces the sounds. AS, OF
course. sound travels great way UNI
der water, the slightest note is dis
tinctly heard by any one on the sur
face.
The fishermen of the bay Of Pailon
say that it is a white fish with blush
spots on the back and about ten inches
long, which they catch on the spot
while it is singing. But as regards
their statement, the great difficulty is
that the mere hooking Of such a fish
near the surface is no proof that it Is
the fish which is a melodist, for the
first might have been swimming near
the surface. while the second the real
performer, is feeding quietly at the
bottom. Anyhow, 1t has been conclu-
sively ascertained that there is fish
which sings.