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July 17, 2008 : Grunting fish yield vocal clues
Grunting fish have helped scientists to date the origins of vocal sounds to about 400 million years ago.
Toadfish and midshipman fish use a variety of different sounds to attract mates and scare off rivals.
Now US researchers have found that the area of a fish's brain that drives vocalisation is extremely primitive.
Writing in the journal Science, they say it suggests that the ability to communicate through sound emerged very early in the evolution of vertebrates.
Andrew Bass from Cornell University, who is the lead author of the paper, said: "You'll hear frogs calling, birds singing and we hear this all the time - we are familiar with this.
"But I think it's fair to say that most people are unaware of the fact that many fish use sound for social communication."
BBC
