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Some Fish Pass Wind to Communicate

By Sarah Ives
National Geographic News
January 08, 2004

"Cutting the cheese." "Breaking wind." Whatever the expression, people have long been taught that passing wind in groups is rude.

But for herring, a type of fish, group "tooting" sessions may be an important way of communicating.

A research team, led by marine biologist Ben Wilson of the Bamfield Marine Science Centre in Canada, recently did the first ever study that says these fish talk to each other by breaking wind.

Wilson and his team studied herring from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The team caught fish and put them in large tanks to watch their behavior.

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

Wilson and his team named the noise Fast Repetitive Tick (FRT).

Herring use FRT to communicate with each other in the dark. The noise seems to allow the fish to find each other without alerting predators. Traveling together can help fish stay safe from their enemies.

Fish pass wind differently from humans. Instead of having gas, scientists say that herring gulp air at the surface. They store the air and release it through a hole in their rear ends.

The scientists say that FRT sounds could help fisherman find herring.

But the scientists worry that noise from boat engines could hurt the ability of herring to communicate with each other by passing wind.

Tooting fish? The idea may sound funny. But for herring, the ability to hear each other pass wind could be the difference between life and death.