Photo Courtesy of the University of Victoria

By Veronica Beltran

sounds fishy

Scientists discover fish farts, burps, and coughs: A better understanding of aquatic ecosystems

Apr 13, 2020 | 1:30 PM

VICTORIA—Fish farts, burps and coughs are all great sounds to the ear of a fish ecologist, when it comes to discovering biological sounds in freshwater habitats, in order to provide scientists with a better understanding of aquatic ecosystems and potential threats from human-caused noises.

University of Victoria (UVIC) Marine Biologist, Francis Juanes and Rodney Rountree, a UVIC adjunct professor based in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, studied habitats along five major rivers systems in North America.

“We are amazed by the widespread occurrence of sounds in different freshwater habitats including unexpectedly abundant fish farts, burps and coughs.” —Rodney Rountree

Juanes and Rountree studied habitats along five major river systems in North America.

“We also found that human-caused noise dominates the freshwater soundscape, and may have detrimental impacts on animals that have evolved in otherwise relatively quiet environments. Identifying biological and human-made sounds is a powerful way to study aquatic ecosystems,” Rountree continued.

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According to Rountree fish use sounds in a lot of similar ways to humans and other animals: to find food, avoid predators, mark territory, find their way around and when choosing a mate.

Over a five-week period in 2008, researchers recorded 2,750 minutes and identified more than 7,000 sounds in 173 locations in the New England region in northeastern United States. The sounds were then categorized as anthropogenic, biological or unknown in origin.

According to a media release by UVIC, researchers were able to build on those early discoveries, including Marta Bolgan of the University of Liège who found that fish air movements occurred at 47 per cent of locations and accounted for nearly 40 per cent of the fish sounds.

Human linked sounds like boats, trains and planes accounted for 92 percent of the sounds with eight percent accounting for all biological sounds.

“There are still many unidentified sounds in the region,” says Juanes. “This suggests more study is required to truly understand the impact of human-caused sounds on the fishes, which over the long term may have important applications in conservation, fisheries management and invasive species monitoring.”