Friday, October 26, 2007

We might be running out of things to study

This is an actual article from the National Geographic Website.
I couldn’t wait to share it with everybody.

Herring Break Wind to Communicate, Study Suggests

James Owen in England

for National Geographic News

In polite society, flatulence is often a social faux pas—especially when issued deliberately. But in the world of fish, group "raspberry-blowing" sessions appear to perform an important social role. This intriguing idea comes from scientists who discovered that herring create a mysterious underwater noise by farting. Researchers suspect herring hear the bubbles as they're expelled, helping the fish form protective shoals at night. It's the first ever study to suggest fish communicate by breaking wind. The study's findings, now published online in the U.K. science journal Biology Letters, reveal that Atlantic and Pacific herring create high-frequency sounds by releasing air from their anuses.
We know [herring] have excellent hearing but little about what they actually use it for," said research team leader Ben Wilson, a marine biologist at the Bamfield Marine Science Centre, British Columbia, Canada. "It turns out that herring make unusual farting sounds at night."

You can read the whole article Here

Many images came to mind when reading this article. This is just one of them

5 comments:

unca said...

So what's the big deal. I used this technique all through high school to attract chicks (come to think of it, it never really worked too well).

si said...

leave it to you to find these articles -- you continually amaze/amuse me.

and unca: really? didn't work?? :)

si said...

hey blogball -- just noticed your best of. took a look again. made me laugh again!

Blogball said...

Thanks for the comments.

Si thanks for checking out the best of!

Happy Birthday! said...

You should be a cartoonist, blogball! (I mean, you are, but someone should pay you!) Your illustration is hilarious.