http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/comm...55E1702,00.html

Fish fart 'to communicate'
11nov03

IN polite society, flatulence is considered a social faux pas. But a study has revealed that in the world of fish, farting is an important social tool.

Canadian and UK researchers have discovered that herring create underwater fart noises, suggesting they communicate by breaking wind.

The study's findings, published in the UK science journal Biology Letters, revealed Atlantic and Pacific herring create high-frequency sounds by releasing air from their anus.

"We know (herring) have excellent hearing but little about what they actually use it for," research team leader Ben Wilson, at the Bamfield Marine Science Centre, Canada, told National Geographic online.

"It turns out that herring make unusual farting sounds at night."

It is now believed herring hear the bubbles as they are expelled, helping the fish form protective shoals at night.

Researchers caught the herring in their natural habitat and transferred them to large laboratory tanks where their behaviour was monitored using hydrophones and infrared video cameras.

The fish were found to produce high-frequency sound bursts and the noise was always accompanied by a fine stream of bubbles.

The study found the noise was often triggered by darkness and high fish densities, indicating to researchers that herring used their farts to speak to one another.


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Thanx Lisa :)

:blink:
Just think - taxpayer money pays for studies like this.

On a good note, my Dad designs hydrophones... maybe he can get someone to look into getting a contract with them, lol

c'mon carrie, whose dad doesn't design hydrophones?

c'mon carrie, whose dad doesn't design hydrophones?[/b][/quote]
Hopefully not too many, so he can keep his career until he decides to retire :)

a few years back in vancouver i met the roommate of a guy i worked with at a party. just the usual smalltalk and then i asked where do you work or something like that, expecting the standard "i work in a store/bakery/office".

turns out he programs movement patterns for the robotic arms on undersea recovery and research vehicles.

i made a similar joke then about "doesn't everybody program movement patterns for the robotic arms on undersea recovery and research vehicles", but it wasn't funny then either. :P