Sunday, August 14, 2005
HARD OF HERRING
Well now you don't just have the family dog to blame for that odious smell wafting through the air. You can now blame your FISH. A least if it is a herring. According to scientific researchers at the University of British Columbia(hey, they're Canadian, would they lie?) herring use a high pitch frequency sound they emit from their anus to make what one researcher calls, "a high-pitched raspberry sound."
Biologists have long believed that sound emanating from our piscine friends behinds was due to something called the swim bladder. However, it appears that fish not only may be flatulent, but they can actually communicate with their farts. Which may place them higher on the evolutionary scale than, say, primates, in particular humans and even more specifically males, who find gas expulsions a source of amusement and even pride. Herring evidently fart to say "Hallo, Sven hoow er yuu. Haf you haird the noo ABBA CD?" Well maybe not exactly that but they evidently are trying to say something according to modern scientific study.(see www.newscientist.com)
Digestive gases, the source of human gas, are not the cause of these fishy farts apparently. Did they fed the fish broccoli and beans I wonder? Researchers also tested to see if the fish were farting out of fear or to sound an alarm. So, they put a recording of Bjork in the water........just kidding.....the Icelandic chanteuse was not involved but a shark scent was but it did not seem to affect the fish farting behavior.
What is even more amusing is that herring are the only ones that can hear the noise. You have all heard the expression, "a fox smells his own hole". Well, evidently herrings are the only ones who can hear their own farts! No word yet if the herring put their fins to their lips and blow out or if they put one fin underneath the other while making a pumping motion to mimic the sound they can make with their butts. That type of behavioral trait may be solely reserved for the more "advanced" animals.
Finally, these sounds are now beginning to be recorded just like the songs of dolphins and whales. I can't wait to see an ad late one night on television offering the multiple CD set Herring Hits-Top Fifty Farts from the Fjords. Yes, try to go to sleep to that.
So the next time an SBD(silent but deadly) is dropped in a room, look around for the fish bowl. Are they giggling?
Biologists have long believed that sound emanating from our piscine friends behinds was due to something called the swim bladder. However, it appears that fish not only may be flatulent, but they can actually communicate with their farts. Which may place them higher on the evolutionary scale than, say, primates, in particular humans and even more specifically males, who find gas expulsions a source of amusement and even pride. Herring evidently fart to say "Hallo, Sven hoow er yuu. Haf you haird the noo ABBA CD?" Well maybe not exactly that but they evidently are trying to say something according to modern scientific study.(see www.newscientist.com)
Digestive gases, the source of human gas, are not the cause of these fishy farts apparently. Did they fed the fish broccoli and beans I wonder? Researchers also tested to see if the fish were farting out of fear or to sound an alarm. So, they put a recording of Bjork in the water........just kidding.....the Icelandic chanteuse was not involved but a shark scent was but it did not seem to affect the fish farting behavior.
What is even more amusing is that herring are the only ones that can hear the noise. You have all heard the expression, "a fox smells his own hole". Well, evidently herrings are the only ones who can hear their own farts! No word yet if the herring put their fins to their lips and blow out or if they put one fin underneath the other while making a pumping motion to mimic the sound they can make with their butts. That type of behavioral trait may be solely reserved for the more "advanced" animals.
Finally, these sounds are now beginning to be recorded just like the songs of dolphins and whales. I can't wait to see an ad late one night on television offering the multiple CD set Herring Hits-Top Fifty Farts from the Fjords. Yes, try to go to sleep to that.
So the next time an SBD(silent but deadly) is dropped in a room, look around for the fish bowl. Are they giggling?
