Fish Orgies Disturb the Peace

That sound? Oh, it's just the toadfish spawning out back.

Coastal-dwellers accused of insanity when they claimed they could "hear the fish" have been vindicated by research showing that fish indeed make sounds audible to humans, reports the New York Times. An investigation into the "eerie thumps" spooking residents of Cape Coral, Florida found that the sound was coming from schools of black drum that had made a spawning ground out of area canals. At 100-500 hertz, the sound was low enough to travel through sea walls and into the ground. Residents of Sausalito, California and Block Island, Rhode Island had similar problems with loudly amorous toadfish and jackhammer-like striped cusk eels, respectively.

While people as far back as Aristotle have noted that fish chirp, bark, and cry, Jacques Cousteau's 1956 "The Silent World" had a lot to do with creating the popular perception of the ocean as soundless. His scuba gear probably just drowned out the racket.

Up next: a "Black Drum Mating Call" setting alongside "Whale Songs" and "Gentle Rain" on your Sounds of Nature white noise machine?

--Emily Matchar