Mary Allen
Admittedly, not too many people ask themselves this question. In fact, the answer is more startling than expected. Because: fish can fart very well – but their flatulence means no relief for them in the first place. They use the tones for a completely different purpose.
Can Fish Fart?
The short answer to this curious question is definitely: yes! Like humans, fish have a stomach and intestinal tract – and gases can also develop in the fish’s body, which the animals allow escape through the anal tract.
However, researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada have discovered a peculiarity of the fish pupa.
They examined large schools of herrings in the Pacific and Atlantic – and found that the animals can deliberately let air flow from their rear end to produce certain sounds that can be several seconds long. They then presumably use these tones for communication, reports the “Spiegel”.
Pisces Communicate with Farts
The sounds that the fish make from their anal tract can be deliberately varied in length. These noises come from the rear of the animals between 0.5 and 7.6 seconds and often differ in tone. In total, the flatulence of pegs in the Pacific is three octaves.
It seems as if the fish can express different things with their farts and control them very consciously. This type of communication is particularly useful for the otherwise mute animals in the dark.