Serenading for sex: Even toadfish do it
Randolph E. Schmid / Associated Press WASHINGTON -- It's not exactly Tony serenading Maria in "West Side Story," but for all their homeliness toadfish also sing to attract mates.
OK, singing may be a stretch; it's more of a hum. But it turns out to be useful, for science as well as the fish. Exploring how their nervous system produces sounds is allowing scientists to trace the earliest developments of vocalization in other animals, including people.
Many animals communicate vocally -- birds chirp, frogs thrum, whales whistle -- and comparing the nerve networks in a variety of vertebrates suggests that making sounds originated in ancient fishes, researchers report in today's edition of the journal Science.
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Lead researcher Andrew H. Bass of Cornell University, a professor of neurobiology and behavior, said his team found two major uses of sound.
One is the hum in which the male sings to attract the female to his nest. The second is a threat sound to protect nesting territory.
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