Scientists Record First Known Shark Sounds

Scientists record the first known shark sounds

By Jack Tamicia Edited by Andrea Thompson

Thanks for JawPulse-pounding theme, shark is synonymous with a spine-chilling sound. In fact, they swim quietly and hunt without dupatta, without peeping – so far, that is.

These fish have only broken their silence. A team of researchers recently recorded a species of sharks, when the animals were handled under water, small, high -frequency clicks were created. Results of the study, published in this week Royal Society Open Science, Represent the first known known event of a shark that actively produce sound,

The sounds were first seen by the lead author of Marine Biologist Caroline fearless, The New Study, while she was working on her PhD. At the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His project focused on several shark hearing capabilities, including rig sharks, a small species, native to coastal water around New Zealand. But something strange happened when the fearless handled the rig shark amid tests: they would start cracking.

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“First of all we did not know what it was because the shark was not going to make a sound,” says fearless, which is now in Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. “I remember coming home and just thinking more and more about those sounds.”

Listen to Shark Crack:

More than 1,000 fish species are known to produce sounds, usually by vibrating their floating bladder, a gas -filled organ that helps the animals to stay and can also serve as an amplifier. But rigs and other sharks lack a floating bladder.

To determine whether the rigs were actually generating cracking sounds, the fearless and its colleagues placed 10 teenagers, at a time, in the tanks that were designed with the sound recorder. Researchers held each rig for 20 seconds and analyzed the resulting audio recording.

Each of these sharks produced high-existing clicks, which lasted to only one part of a second. Researchers recorded much higher clicks in the first 10 seconds of the handling session held in the last 10 seconds, suggesting that the sounds represented the reaction of rigs to the shocking by their handlers.

Listen to more high-existing shark clicks:

The frequencies of clicks were mostly outside the rigs hearing range, which suspects that sharks use them to communicate. They fall within the hearing limit of several corpse whales, however hunting the rigs. Researchers have Observed the cod in view of similar clicking sounds Potentially to snatch the nearby seals.

To determine how the rigs were making the sound of clicks without a swim bladder, the team created three-dimensional reconstructions of fish jaws and teeth. Rigs have a specific set of flat teeth, which are arranged for animals in overlapping rows to allow animals to crack open crab shells. The team hypotheses that the teeth of the teeth produce mosaic clicks as the fish combines their jaw together.

According to Dennis Higgs, a maritime biologist at Windsor University in Ontario, the paper presents a compelling case that produces some shark sounds. He wonders that there is a need to do more work, however, to determine whether these sounds are part of the list of audio performance of the rigs or just their reaction is being handled. “The open question is, ‘Will the shark noise in more natural conditions?” Higgs says, who has studied the hearing abilities of sharks, but did not include new research.

The Nieder agrees and is planning to conduct additional behavior experiments to learn more about triggering shark clicks. She also expects to conduct similar experiments with rigs and other shark species in a natural environment.

Although the new paper presents the first evidence of a sound -making shark, recent research has shown that two other types of cartilaginous fish, rays, and skates, also make noise. Scientists have observed many species Wild stingres in both Indonesia and Australia And Rays and skates in the Mediterranean Sea When they are approached by divers, clicking noise.

Shark and stingrase disintegrated over 200 million years ago. This presents the possibility that sound production is an ancient feature that is widespread among sharks and their cartilaginous families.

“We used to think that these fish cannot do this, but they are proving us wrong,” says Higgs. “It is worth listening to more shark species.”