Can Fish Hear ? That reminds me of that tv commercial about the guy and his son building furniture and he say’s I love you pop, and the dad say’s what? The son say’s I love you pop and dad says I heard you the first time but wanted to hear you say it again because dad has new hearing aids.
But I ran across the question of can fish hear, somewhere and it got me to thinking. So I did a little research and found an interesting story about a guy who had a pond full of fish. The following is what he learned about this pond full of fish.
This man had a pond that was roughly 100 feet long by 15 feet deep and 4 foot deep in most places. In this pond he had in the neighborhood of 2000 large Trout that weighed anywhere from one to three and a half pounds. The pond was fed by a spring that produced a little current in the water. He had noticed that the fish had their favorite spots that they liked to spend most of their time at.
So you thought of trying a little experiment to see if they had a sense of hearing about them. So what he did was he got a buddy to go to about the middle of the pond on the bank and take 2 racks weighing 5 or 6 pounds each and wait for him to give him a signal.
The owner of the pond got himself to and elevated position where he could watch the fish. He then had his buddy lay down on the bank and put the rocks under the water and bang them together.
So the buddy started banging away with the rocks. slapping them together. The fish didn’t move except for what was needed to keep them in their desired position. basically they ignored or didn’t hear the noise of the rocks banging together.
Next he took a firearm and walked to the edge of the pond and fired the weapon several times, not into the pond or at an angle of where the fish would see the flash come out of the end of the barrel of the gun. Not a one of the fish moved, flinched or nothing.
So he decided to try one more thing. He took a board (or piece of lumber) and slammed it down on the ground making a loud noise. Guess what hap-pend ? The fish darted away and squirmed for a new location.
So could the fish hear that piece of lumber hit the ground or was it something else ?
So he like myself conducted some research and here he recite Cuvier: Who says, It is probable that fish can hear and that noises produce in them a strong sensation, but that they can not distinguish either the infinite variety of tones or articulate sounds with which quadrupels (animals with four feet) and birds.
So can fish hear noises ? Some say that yes, they can. They argue that when a predator of the fish gets near them, they will turn and disappear or go into hiding to avoid the predator. Others say that the ear of a fish is almost entirely inside the cranium and that fish have nothing of an external ear.
It has been said that Loud sudden and strange sounds frighten fish but that fish have been trained to come at feeding time form the tinkle of a bell or by being called by a pet name. It has even been said that the ringing of a bell or beating of a drum has attracted fish to a certain area of a pond to be fed. Izaak Walton, made the statement that fish can hear and smell, but made the statement that when I fish I make as little noise as possible.
I think everyone agrees that a fish may not be able to understand a conversation and that they feel but not hear noise. What do you think ?