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Chatterbox Fish

By Moushumi Mohanty

There was a time when people thought that fish were dumb creatures. Until they invented machines which could detect sounds under water. And guess what these machines heard?

A string of grunts, clicks, thumps and other kinds of sounds. It was the fish doing a lot of underwater talking! It seems that they have a lot to talk about, for each sound has a different meaning.

There is a kind of fish called the croaker. They actually croak like a frog!

Fish which explode

All fish may talk but there are some fish which explode. And that happens when fishermen make a catch. The fish explode after coming up as if they have little crackers bursting inside their stomachs. These are the redfish, or the ocean perch as they are called.

They live in very deep waters -- as deep as 400 metres. That would be like living 135 storeys below water!

There is a very simple explanation about the explosions in their bodies. These fish have a gas-filled swim bladder which helps them float. They adjust the size of this bladder when they want to rest on the water's surface.

The problem arises when these fish are suddenly pulled out of the water by the fisherman's hook or net. They do not get enough time to expel the extra amount of air in their bladders. As the water pressure decreases, the bladder expands and sometimes explodes. If the bladder doesn't explode, the fish's shape gets distorted. Often, the stomach is thrust out of its mouth.

Fish that stay even 10 metres below the surface can also get injured if they are suddenly pulled up by a fisherman's net.