Do fish fart? What are the bubbles?

Answer 1

iologists have linked a mysterious, underwater farting sound to bubbles coming out of a herring's anus. No fish had been known to emit sound from its anus nor to be capable of producing such a high-pitched noise.

"It sounds just like a high-pitched raspberry," says Ben Wilson of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada (Listen here, .wav file). Wilson and his colleagues cannot be sure why herring make this sound, but initial research suggests that it might explain the puzzle of how shoals keep together after dark.

"Surprising and interesting" is how aquatic acoustic specialist Dennis Higgs, of the University of Windsor in Ontario, describes the discovery. It is the first case of a fish potentially using high frequency for communication, he believes.

Arthur Popper, an aquatic bio-acoustic specialist at the University of Maryland, US, is also intrigued. "I'd not have thought of it, but fish do very strange and diverse things," he says
Grunts and buzzes

Fish are known to call out to potential mates with low "grunts and buzzes", produced by wobbling a balloon of air called the swim bladder located in the abdomen. The swim bladder inflates and deflates to adjust the fish's buoyancy.

The biologists initially assumed that the swim bladder was also producing the high-pitched sound they had detected. But then they noticed that a stream of bubbles expelled from the fish's anus corresponded exactly with the timing of the noise. So a more likely cause was air escaping from the swim bladder through the anus.

It was at this point that the team named the noise Fast Repetitive Tick (FRT). But Wilson points that, unlike a human fart, the sounds are probably not caused by digestive gases because the number of sounds does not change when the fish are fed.

The researchers also tested whether the fish were farting from fear, perhaps to sound an alarm. But when they exposed fish to a shark scent, there was again no change in the number of FRTs.
Night waves

Finally, three observations persuaded the researchers that the FRT is most likely produced for communication. Firstly, when more herring are in a tank, the researchers record more FRTs per fish.

Secondly, the herring are only noisy after dark, indicating that the sounds might allow the fish to locate one another when they cannot be seen. Thirdly, the biologists know that herrings can hear sounds of this frequency, while most fish cannot. This would allow them to communicate by FRT without alerting predators to their presence.

Wilson emphasises that at present this idea is just a theory. But the discovery is still useful, he says. Herring might be tracked by their FRTs, in the same way that whales and dolphins are monitored by their high-pitched squeals. Fishermen might even exploit this to locate shoals.

There may even be a conservation issue. Some experts believe human-generated sounds can damage underwater mammals. Now it seems underwater noise might disrupt fish too.

Answer 2

In short, yes.

'Fart' gas is produced (in humans) by chemical reactions in the GI tract, by bacteria living in our guts and even passed into the intestines from the blood. It can also consist of swallowed air. A fish's digestive system is similar enough to a humans to assume the same procesess go on and gas will be produced. If it's produced, the fish's body needs to get rid of it that would have to be in the form of a fart.
The swim bladder is a balance/buoyancy aid and isn't directly linked to the GI tract. No farts are going to go in or out of there!

On a subjective note, I'm a goldfish keeper and I've seen bubbles of gas mixed in with fish poop which I'm sure must be bubbles of fish fart. Sometimes fish take in air when feeding and expell bubbled from the front end, too, of course.

Answer 3

"Do fish fart?
According to our ichthyologist at the University of Guam, fish flatulence per se has not been studied, although people have investigated fish digestion. They find that although most fish have alkaline intestinal environments like our own, coral-eating fish have acidic intestinal contents. The acid serves to dissolve coral skeletal material. Coral has the same composition as Tums (calcium carbonate). One product of the reaction between acid and calcium carbonate is carbon dioxide gas. Therefore, it is logical to assume that coral-eating fish fart a lot.
The other fish probably fart also, for the same reasons that we do.
However, Mike Pulte, a great fish enthusiast, said that he has never seen a fish do it.
I asked our ichthyologist if it were possible that fish gas would go into the swim bladder instead of out the anal opening. He said that modern fish have an air bladder that is independent of the gastrointestinal tract. The gas comes from enzymatic activity and not from the intestine. Older models of fish have their swim bladder connected to the gastrointestinal tract, but it is attached high up, closer to the mouth than to the other end, and these fish come to the surface and gulp air to fill the bladder. Therefore, we can assume that intestinal gas leaves the fish through the anal opening.
We also pondered the possibility of fish making noise via flatulence, but apparently most fish noises are made through belching rather than farting.
Lisa P., an aquarium enthusiast, reports that she has seen her fish fart: 'I have four aquariums and many fish, and I have personally witnessed fish farting! My goldfish used to do it all the time! You'd see a little bubble come out of his anus and stay there, trapped in the mucus of a long string of poop. (Ugh!) And my opaline gourami does it too. Neither of these are coral-eating fish. I have only owned two coral-eating fish so far, but I have never seen either of them fart. It seems most likely to me that much of this gas comes from air swallowed during eating. Also, goldfish have a very simple digestive system and their food is absorbed inefficiently, so possibly the bacteria have more to feed on?'"

Answer 4

IN polite society, flatulence is considered a social faux pas. But a study has revealed that in the world of fish, farting is an important social tool.

Canadian and UK researchers have discovered that herring create underwater fart noises, suggesting they communicate by breaking wind.

The study's findings, published in the UK science journal Biology Letters, revealed Atlantic and Pacific herring create high-frequency sounds by releasing air from their anus.

"We know (herring) have excellent hearing but little about what they actually use it for," research team leader Ben Wilson, at the Bamfield Marine Science Centre, Canada, told National Geographic online.

It turns out that herring make unusual farting sounds at night."

It is now believed herring hear the bubbles as they are expelled, helping the fish form protective shoals at night.

Researchers caught the herring in their natural habitat and transferred them to large laboratory tanks where their behaviour was monitored using hydrophones and infrared video cameras.

The fish were found to produce high-frequency sound bursts and the noise was always accompanied by a fine stream of bubbles.

The study found the noise was often triggered by darkness and high fish densities, indicating to researchers that herring used their farts to speak to one another.

Answer 5

as far as i know the bubbles are feeding bubbles, when the fish are ground feeding they release a trail of bubbles, you watch a tench for instance you can follow them for quite a while and i dont think its caused by farting.

Answer 6

I dont know if fish fart , But I know that SeaHorses in Particular can't. They can die from not being able to exspell air that they may swallow.

Death by lack of farting ?

Answer 7

Yup - my Muskies fart all the time. Freakin' hilarious to see little bubbles coming from their rears!

Answer 8

no u need air to fart. fish dont breath air like we do.

Answer 9

in no way quite theory approximately it for a protracted time. although curiously like it to me. i think of that its unquestionably air and because they are in water that is going to become bubbles, purely like as quickly as we swim.

Answer 10

Do you fart