Sounds of the Humming Fish
When midshipman fish migrate from the deep Pacific waters to the west coast of North America each summer to mate, the intertidal zone becomes a noisy place. Courting males excavate nests beneath rocks in shallow water and hum to attract egg-laying females. The love song, described as a motorboat-like drone, comes from rapidly contracting muscles on the male's swim bladder and proves irresistible to the female midshipman. Each female deposits all her eggs for that season in one nest and swims away. Hoping to lure more females to the nest, the male resumes singing, all the while remaining on guard until the offspring hatch and mature.
The hum in RealAudio, .au or .wav format.
Besides the humming sound, the male midshipman produces produce two others kinds of vocalizations which, if not especially eloquent, do get the message across: A series of grunts that bioacoustic scientists call a "grunt train" and a low growl both come from males guarding their nests.
The grunt train in .wav format.
The growl in RealAudio, .au or .wav format.
Whenever the hums of two neighboring (and competing) males overlap, the sounds form what is known as an acoustic beat. Biologists at Cornell University have shown that the female midshipman uses the beat to localize the male of her choice.
The beat in RealAudio, .au or .wav format.
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