Omaha daily bee., 1916-08-09
Fishes Surely
Can Hear,
| Maybe TaJk
BY GARRETT p. SERvISS.

/
the only animals incapable OF making rocal
sounds. What Is the reason? In the anat
omical construction Of fishes is any pro
vision made for vocal organs? II not, car
you tell me why fishes alone in all tht
animal world have no such organs?-
W. NJ. W.
Putting aide the fact that a clam
is not fish, it may be broadly stated
that fishes have no recognized vocal
organs. Nevertheless they have or
gans of hearing, though without ex.
ternaI ears. Some fishes surely and
all possibly, can make sounds, but
there is no evidence that they rcgu.
larly employ these sounds as voices.
Still, DR.. David Starr Jordan, who
probably knows as much about fish
Las any man living, remarks that
"these sounds may possibly be useful
to the species, but they are not well
differentiated, nor have they been so
Investigated as. to be well under
stood"
DR.. Jordan thinks that the "grat-
ing" sounds made by some fishes
arise from the pharyngeal bones, be-
hind the gills, while the singing
sounds uttered by other fishes origi-
nate in the air-bladder. There Is a
peculiar singing fish" known on the
California coast as 'the midshipman,"
which may be a joking name origi-
mating among sailors. ..~.
If we could only live in the water
for a while we might come out with
some surprising information about
the voices" and the hearing powers,
as we'll as the intelligence, of fishes.
But, in fact, the water world is al
most unknown to US, except through
a few narrow ways of inference, and
this in spite of the fact that, if we
trace our ancestral lines far back in
geological time, we find that we our
selves must have sprung from the
ocean.
There are certain nervous terrors
which we inherit that may also, pos
sibly, be traced back to the times
when our aquatic forebears soug hi
refuge from arrowy enemies in the
tremulous shadows of sea-caverns.
Although ichthyologists say little
about the subject, there are some very
suggestive facts which seem to indi-
cate that fishes were not provided
with hearing solely to enable them to
escape from their foes, such foes, for
instance, as cunning piscators, like old
Izaak Walton, stealing silently along
the banks of trout stream and
dropping appetizing bats into the
water, with only the sounds that a
buzzing fly might make. | risk no
scientific reputation in quoting an in
teresting story told by DR.. {. {. Abb
bott as an indication that fishes may
even have language. 49,.
DR.. Abbott was floating in his boat
over a quiet spot in Poaetquissing
creek, in New Jersey, where bottom
springs pour up cool fresh water in
abundance, and this was what he
saw:
There, for space of some five
yards square, there was nothing in
the water save fishes; but all about
them was a dense wall of watermill-
foil and other aquatic plants. The
fish were accustomed to the boat and
moved to and fro leisurely, from side
to side on the weedless space, or
were stationary. Suddenly large
roach dashed into the midst of them,
and instantly every fish was still as
stone. The roach hesitated for a
moment and was gone, and with it
vanished every fish in that open
space The others, somehow, learned
OF danger from this roach, and, as-jt
proved, none too soon, for no sooner
had the many small fishes disap
peared than a dozen large white
perch made their appearance and
roamed about the, clear space above
the spring, evidently in surprise or
disappointment. As plainly as a man
might startle crowd by cry of
fire or murder that roach in
formed the fishes that were gathered
in the clear waters below me that
they must seek safety by flight"
| Now, in connection with this story
and DR.. Abbott's fame as careful
observer needs no bush-take the
| following fact, established by scien-
tific authority: In many fishes the
swim bladder has intimate relations
with the hearing organ. In the SIM
plest condition these relations con-
sist in the prolongation forward OF
the swim bladder as blindly ending
tube on either side, the blind end
coming into direct contact either
with the wall of the octocist (hear-
ing organ) ITSELF or with the fluid
surrounding it through a gap in the
rigid periotic capsule.
A wave of compression, causing a
slight inward movement OF the swim
bladder wall will bring about a
greatly magnified movement of that
part of the wall which is in relation
with the interior Of the auditory cap
sule. In this way the perception of
delicate sounds may be rendered
much more perfect,
So, after all, although they have
no external ears, fishes seem to pos
sess an auditory apparently exceed
ing well fitted to give them informa-
ton through sounds The medium in
which they live is dense and elastic,
and conveys sound between four and
five times more rapidly than the air
does.
Every fisherman knows how SOFTLY
he must tread when approaching the
lurking places of trout Who knows
but that fishes have some means of
making sounds, inaudible or unao-
ticeable to us, which serve to con
yey information as comprehensive
in its way as the cries of birds, the
barking of dogs or the whinneying
of horses?
| The roach that DR.. Abbott saw
did something during that dramatic
instant of motionlessness which viv-
idly conveyed to his little friends a