The sound of sunfish.

I didn't go sampling this weekend (a mix between my big connecticut river post getting no replies and a sunfish/crappie fishing post made at the same time getting replies sort of discouraged me to an illogical degree). Instead I went fishing (i forgot to bring my camera so no pics). And caught some small (3-5 inch) redbreast sunfish and one pumpkinseed. Upon noticing redbreasts opercular tabs were not as elongated as I often hear (some were slightly elongated, others almost round). I looked up info on them and stumbled on an odd but unrelated fact. In the digital Audubon Guide to Fish I have on my Ipad it says "Unlike other sunfish in the family Lepomis, this species does not produce sounds during courtship."

WAIT!?! Sunfish make sounds? I never heard one.

The only fish really famous for making sounds is the toadfish off California which supposedly keep people awake. (Though I asked a friend I know online who lives on a houseboat in San Francisco bay and he says it's like other natural sounds like frogs, crickets, etc. after a while you never notice them). That and fish named for their sounds (grunts, croakers, drums, etc.)

I have caught bullheads and fallfish which made noise when caught on hook and line and have idly wondered "If fish make noise and sound travels better in water than in air, do these fish communicate by noise." But I never gave it serious thought.

Now I wonder how come I never heard a sunfish make noise? What do they sound like? Do different sunfish species make different calls? What about other native fish species? Do bullheafs and minnows make noise too.

Fish have courtship calls? What about distress calls? terretorial calls? school contact calls?

Red spotted, spotted, bluegill, redear and pumpkinseed all make courtship sounds. You can feel that produced by first two. Bluegill, reddear and pumkinseed make clicks or grunts while rim circling. I would be surprised if females of all species do not produce a sound while extruding eggs. Pumpkinseed produce audible sounds when feeding on heavy shelled snails that may serve as contact calls. Red spotted I think produces a panic call when making rapid escape.

Most of the sounds do not conduct well from water / tank to air and with the exception of those produced by red spotted and spotted sunfishes are intended for close quarters communication.

I was sitting near the fish tank recently, quietly typing on the computer, when I heard an odd clicking sound. At the time I had Trichopsis pumila, the sparkling gourami. It was very exciting because hearing sounds like that means that the fish are interacting with one another, and it shows that they are comfortable in the environment you created for them. You can hear what that clicking sound is like if you turn the volume way up when watching this video, taken from youtube:



Up until I read your post just now, Trichopsis pumila was the only fish that I knew of that made sound. It would be interesting to hear the noises of other fish, if anyone has any video of courtship or territory sounds in their tank.

I doubt that anyone with only one fish of the species will get to hear their fish make sound. It appears to only occur when the fish are interacting with one another. I still have one Trichopsis pumila left who escaped the mass capture when I sent the rest of them away to their new home, and it just sits in its tank, quiet, making no noise. Solitary fish are quiet.

Edited by EricaWieser, 16 August 2011 - 08:02 AM.

I have video showing sunfish spinning up but, owing to budget limitations, could never get video and sound recordings at same time. Technology has improved greatly since those efforts so now likely doable at minimal cost. We have a large (1,200-gallon) tank used for colonial breeding of bluegill and redear. When they spin-up the sounds would be impressive if made audible to human ear while watching activity from above.

Just above view we have webcams to monitor activity from computer in another room. Webcams have microphones that could be adapted to low end hydrophone to link video and audio signals into same file.

Up until I read your post just now, Trichopsis pumila was the only fish that I knew of that made sound. It would be interesting to hear the noises of other fish, if anyone has any video of courtship or territory sounds in their tank.

I doubt that anyone with only one fish of the species will get to hear their fish make sound. It appears to only occur when the fish are interacting with one another. I still have one Trichopsis pumila left who escaped the mass capture when I sent the rest of them away to their new home, and it just sits in its tank, quiet, making no noise. Solitary fish are quiet.

I have kept many Doras species catfish from south american and their audible noises can be heard from across the room if the fish is big enough. I had 4 x Agamyxis pectinifrons that were about 6" and you could always hear them grunting when courting, and when they are pulled from the water, it is even louder (this only happened when moving them to a larger tank.)

They are called grunting catfish.

I have kept many Doras species catfish from south american and their audible noises can be heard from across the room if the fish is big enough. I had 4 x Agamyxis pectinifrons that were about 6" and you could always hear them grunting when courting, and when they are pulled from the water, it is even louder (this only happened when moving them to a larger tank.)

They are called grunting catfish.

O_O!



That's so cute! I wonder if other catfish make noises?

Edited by EricaWieser, 16 August 2011 - 02:59 PM.

Is this a native catfish? They say that they caught it in Bastrop State Park, which is in Texas.



And this South Carolinian catfish kind of meows at 14 seconds in:

Edited by EricaWieser, 16 August 2011 - 02:58 PM.

Pupfish make sounds. Here is an article on Sheepshead Minnow, and I know of some work affirming this with C. nevadensis. I would bet lots more fish do, just nobody has tried to record them.

http://www.springerl...057xw5062087p1/

O_O!


That's so cute! I wonder if other catfish make noises?

I've caught a lot of catfish that make deep grunting/grinding/groaning sort of sounds, but it's been years since I've fished for them and right now I can't remember if it was bullheads or channel cats.

i believe flatheads and channels will both grunt.

i believe flatheads and channels will both grunt.

Bullheads will grunt too. I wonder if catfish use their sounds underwater.

as far as north american catfish, I am unsure as I have only kept tadpole madtoms and have not heard anything from them. But when speaking of the doras catfish of south america, Yes, their sounds are used underwater. I had read an article a few years back about them possibly using it during the drying season where the flood rivers start to receed and they think it's used so lost fish can find their way back to main river. Now if that were the case (have not seen anything proving it) wouldn't that be cool knowing they are calling out for help and actually getting a response? I just think fish behavior as a whole is really cool. We had a speaker at a LFC talk about parental care in cichlids and how they parent fish know to attack the eye of a possible threat. They tested this by taking a laminated cut out of a fish and moving the eye around on that cut out to see exactly where the parent caring fish would attack, and 98% of the time, it was whereever the eye was. Fish are much smarter than I think a lot of people give credit to.

Fish are much smarter than I think a lot of people give credit to.

I know they can respond well to classical conditioning. I once taught a bunch of adult bluegills in a pond to eat out of my hand and jump out out of the water for food. I could even pick them up out of the water while they were eating. When I would top the hill on my 4-wheeler, coming toward the pond, they would hear my machine, and you could see ripples from every direction coming toward the dock. They had learned to associate the sound of the 4-wheeler with food. I wish now, I would have tried to experiment more with their association abilities, but I no longer live there.

Is this a native catfish? They say that they caught it in Bastrop State Park, which is in Texas.



And this South Carolinian catfish kind of meows at 14 seconds in:

Ohhhh yea Erica, Channel Catfish grunt like crazy when you're unhooking them. Pretty bizarre I suppose when you think about it.