Can fish hear?

[sofro friend]

Hello all, I just wondered if fish can hear noises. It had been whirling around in my mind for some time. Thanks

 

[NickAu]

Hearing is an important sensory system for most species of fish. ... Fish can sense sound through their lateral lines and their otoliths (ears). Some fishes, such as some species of carp and herring, hear through their swim bladders, which function rather like a hearing aid.

Source
Sensory systems in fish - Wikipedia

 

[SnailPocalypse]

I also have a question do pond snails make co2?

 

[NickAu]

Yes, But it would only be tiny amounts per snail. Decaying plant matter also produces CO2,

 

[sofro friend]

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Byron]

Just to add some practical experience on your question...fish hearing is very acute. When I am sitting motionless in front of one of my tanks, and someone across the street slams their car door, the fish in the tank will suddenly jump. Sometimes this reaction occurs and I do not hear anything; the fish clearly do.

 

[Fish-mates]

On the topic of fish hearing, does the constant hum of a powerhead, (which seems to be louder in the room because of reverberations on the acquarium lid), upset the fish? Just interested to know as I'm tuning into it in the room so surely the fish do too, yet I can leave the room.

 

[Byron]

On the topic of fish hearing, does the constant hum of a powerhead, (which seems to be louder in the room because of reverberations on the acquarium lid), upset the fish? Just interested to know as I'm tuning into it in the room so surely the fish do too, yet I can leave the room.

I have often wondered about filters. The fish would feel the noise more than hear it like we do. One has to have filters, and perhaps the continual hum is less problematic as it is constant. Though too much of it and the fish might become stressed. They can hear water running through your house pipes.

This doesn't directly answer the question, but it may help to explain the concept of hearing; this passage is taken from the excellent book The Manual of Fish Health authored by Dr Chris Andrews, Dr Neville Carrington, Adrian Exell and Dr Peter Burgess, with other advisors.

Fish rely heavily on the sensory reception of sound, which in water manifests itself as pressure waves. They have a very sensitive so-called "lateral line" system that consists of a series of canals and pits set just below the skin, the main canal running along the midline of each flank. This is tuned to ignore background noise and picks up unusual low frequency sounds vibrating at 1/10 to 200 hertz (cycles per second). Fish also have an inner ear, which picks up higher frequency sound (up to 8000 hertz). In some fish species, such as carp, the inner ear system is highly developed, with the swimbladder acting as a receiver and amplifier for sounds that are passed to the inner ear by means of a series of connecting bones called the Weberian ossicles.​

 

[NickAu]

This is one of the reasons I hate internal power head type filters, If I can hear them so can a fish,

 

[SnailPocalypse]

good thing I cant hear mine.