The Singing Fish Has Been Studied By Experts, Find Out The Trigger

Nature is indeed mysterious. People residing in a houseboat in California back in 1980's heard a low submarine hum and they can only hear it every night. Research shows that it does not come from what people might think such as the noisy sewage, for it comes from a fish underwater. Will the Scientists today solve the mystery of the singing fish?

Expert revealed that what people had heard come from a nocturnal fish called "Plainfin Midshipman." The name comes from the rows of bioluminescent organs that are on the fish's underside of which researcher's link to a midshipman's uniform. The size of the fish is up to 15 inches long.

To verify if the fish is really the one who is singing the "Lovely Song" underwater, experts performed an experiment. The result shows the male Plainfin Midshipman is the one singing for them to court the fish. But, they also found out that the fish only sings during the night time.

A professor of neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University which investigates the study, Andrew Bass said, "They are among the vocal champions of the marine environment along with whales and dolphins, the production and hearing of vocal signals plays a central role in their social interactions and reproductive behavior."

To further their research, the expert's studies through laboratory experiments the behavior of the male fish during night time. It comes to show that the low-frequency hum like a foghorn is being controlled by the light-driven internal clock and the hormone melatonin. Like humans, the fish also has melatonin in which drives the sleep and wake cycles, as reported by Reuters.

In line with this, Ni Feng a co-author of the research investigates the study where the Plainfin Midshipman is in a controlled lighting room. She revealed that the fish hummed in constant darkness and it is on schedule because of their internal clock.

Meanwhile,  the Plainfin Midshipman humming stops when the light was on. But, when the fish was given melatonin-like alternation the humming continues. Dr. Ni Feng added "Melatonin is the same supplement that humans might take to fall asleep easier and get over jetlag faster, but in the nocturnal fish, like the midshipman, it serves to wake them up and pave the way for their nocturnal courtship song performance," according to BBC News.