That mysterious high-pitched sound scientists have heard in the ocean around Vancouver may be fish farting, reports an article in the New Scientist, picked up by the impeccably quirky Ananova. Actually, to be more precise, the sound seems to be made by herring farting.
“It sounds just like a high-pitched raspberry,” says Ben Wilson of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. According to New Scientist, Wilson and his colleagues aren’t sure why herring make this sound, but think the farts are a form of communication to keep the shoal of fish together.
That mysterious high-pitched sound scientists have heard in the ocean around Vancouver may be fish farting, reports an article in the New Scientist, picked up by the impeccably quirky Ananova. Actually, to be more precise, the sound seems to be made by herring farting.
“It sounds just like a high-pitched raspberry,” says Ben Wilson of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. According to New Scientist, Wilson and his colleagues aren’t sure why herring make this sound, but think the farts are a form of communication to keep the shoal of fish together.