Do fish fart?
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 12:39 pm
This is fishery education, right? :lol:
Do fish fart?
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 60363/1058
04/26/07 Ask Eric: Nick Dwyer, 10, Redford
Nick, your call posed the neatest question I've ever been asked in more than 40 years as a reporter!
And the answer is that while some fish do produce bubbles and sounds from their behinds, it depends on how you define flatulence.
When I was your age and went fishing with adults, I occasionally would see small streams of bubbles breaking the surface. When I asked the grownups what caused it, they invariably replied, "Fish farts."
Suspicious of their veracity, I have to admit that on occasion, when they weren't looking, I would get my nose down low over the water in an effort to confirm their claim, always without success.
However, my research showed that this question has intrigued scientists at the University of Maryland, University of British Columbia and other august institutions of learning.
Alas, the savants are split on the answer because the bubbles that a few fish species expel from their nether regions aren't the product of digestion or originate in the fishes' gut, as in mammals.
Herring in schools release bubbles from a special duct just inside the anus, making a squeak or buzz, and they may use the sound to confuse predators or communicate in the dark. Some commercial fishing boat skippers say that a massive burst of bubbles on the surface means that the school of herring they are trying to surround with a net has decided to go deep.
The sand tiger shark gulps air at the surface through its mouth to maintain buoyancy, then expels it through its rear when it wants to go deep. Once again, the gas isn't the product of digestion, but I like to think that perhaps this shark is evolving toward being the first jet-propelled species of its type.
In my 50 years as a scuba diver, I've often seen coral-eating parrotfish poop a cloud of sand into the water when they flee as something startles them (parrotfish digestions account for much of the white sand around coral reefs). But I've never seen the sand accompanied by bubbles.
Do fish fart?
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 60363/1058
04/26/07 Ask Eric: Nick Dwyer, 10, Redford
Nick, your call posed the neatest question I've ever been asked in more than 40 years as a reporter!
And the answer is that while some fish do produce bubbles and sounds from their behinds, it depends on how you define flatulence.
When I was your age and went fishing with adults, I occasionally would see small streams of bubbles breaking the surface. When I asked the grownups what caused it, they invariably replied, "Fish farts."
Suspicious of their veracity, I have to admit that on occasion, when they weren't looking, I would get my nose down low over the water in an effort to confirm their claim, always without success.
However, my research showed that this question has intrigued scientists at the University of Maryland, University of British Columbia and other august institutions of learning.
Alas, the savants are split on the answer because the bubbles that a few fish species expel from their nether regions aren't the product of digestion or originate in the fishes' gut, as in mammals.
Herring in schools release bubbles from a special duct just inside the anus, making a squeak or buzz, and they may use the sound to confuse predators or communicate in the dark. Some commercial fishing boat skippers say that a massive burst of bubbles on the surface means that the school of herring they are trying to surround with a net has decided to go deep.
The sand tiger shark gulps air at the surface through its mouth to maintain buoyancy, then expels it through its rear when it wants to go deep. Once again, the gas isn't the product of digestion, but I like to think that perhaps this shark is evolving toward being the first jet-propelled species of its type.
In my 50 years as a scuba diver, I've often seen coral-eating parrotfish poop a cloud of sand into the water when they flee as something startles them (parrotfish digestions account for much of the white sand around coral reefs). But I've never seen the sand accompanied by bubbles.