do fish have ears? dont ask lol?

Answer 1

Yes they do. This all I could find on it though.
Fish otoliths are small calcareous bones from a fish's earing system, dispersed after the death and decomposition of the fish, and were later buried and fossilized. They are one of the many microfossils which can be found though a micropalaeontological analysis of a fine sediment. Their stratigraphic significance is minimal, but can still be used to characterize a level or interval.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_otolites"

The Fluid Mechanics of Fish Hearing



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Several studies have shown that fish can determine the range and direction of underwater sound at frequencies ranging from 0.1-1.0 kHz even in the presence of background noise. Humans and other land animals directionalize sound using the time of arrival differences between our two ears. Given that sound speed in water is about five times higher than that in air and the distances between the two ears in fish are no more than a few centimeters, however, fish must use a fundamentally different directionalization mechanism. Most fish have two "inner" ears with no direct fluid connection to their environment. The fish ear consists of three endolymph-filled semicircular canals, each of which contains a bony mass, the otolith, suspended <100 microns above the macular membrane densely covered with more than 100,000 hair cells (similar to those found in our own ears). Incident sound oscillates the otolith, with its greater inertia, with respect to its surroundings (Figure 1). These otoliths have amazingly varied geometries (Figure 2); marine biologists can identify the specific species and age of individual fish from just their otoliths. Given that biological systems are optimal, why do fish need complex otolith geometries and so many hair cells?






Figure 1 Otolith oscillating above the macular hair cells [1]





Figure 2 Typical saccular otoliths for goldfish (left) [2] and cod (right) [1]; note the cross-sectional views of the goldfish otolith


Current models of fish hearing assume that fish determine the direction of incident sound by detecting otolith motion along the direction of the acoustic wave--but these models fail to explain why fish need complex otolith geometries or so many hair cells. The incident sound also creates a flow between the otolith and the macula, however. We hypothesize instead that the fish ear functions as an "auditory retina". In this hypothesis, the densely packed hair cells visualize the flow patterns due to the acoustically induced flow in the complex three-dimensional geometry between the otolith and the macula, much like a tuft visualization. The complex geometry of fish otoliths may help to distinguish flow patterns for sound from different directions. By converting acoustic signals into spatial patterns sampled with extremely high spatial resolution by the macular hair cells, directionalizing sound becomes a pattern recognition problem, not unlike the visual patterns imaged by the retina.

The objectives of this research involving marine biology, acoustics and fluid mechanics are:

To experimentally and numerically study these (stready streaming) flows (at nearly zero Reynolds numbers) in model fish ears using particle-image velocimetry and finite-element and/or finite-volume techniques, respectively. How do otolith geometry and incident sound direction (i.e., otolith oscillation) direction affect these flows? Could fish use these flows to directionalize sound?
Use this knowledge to design and build a compact underwater acoustic sensor for detecting the direction of incident sound.

This project, a collaboration with P. Rogers and D. Trivett in Mechanical Engineering, is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research .

References

[1] Platt, C. and Popper, A.N. (1981) "Fine structure and function of the ear" In Hearing and Sound Communication in Fishes (W.N. Tavolga, A.N. Popper, and R.R. Fay, editors), Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 3–36
[2] Schellart, N.A.M. and. Wubbels, R.J (1998) "The auditory and mechanosensory lateral line system" In The Physiology of Fishes (D.H. Evans, editor) CRC Press, New York, pp. 283–312

Publications (contact M. Yoda for reprints)

M. Yoda, M., P. H. Rogers and K. E. Baxter “Is the fish ear an auditory retina? Steady streaming in the otolith-macula gap,” Bioacoustics 12, 131–134 (2002)

Answer 2

yes, I guess.

Fish have ears which work differently than ours since their ears are completely within their bodies. Exactly how fish hear is not too well known. Some hear with an air sac called the swim bladder. In every case, water vibrations are picked up directly over the whole surface of the fish's body.

If you want in-depth details use the below link:

http://www.life.umd.edu/biology/popperlab/background/ultrastructuresurface.htm

Answer 3

Fish have ears which work differently than ours since their ears are completely within their bodies. Exactly how fish hear is not too well known. Some hear with an air sac called the swim bladder. In every case, water vibrations are picked up directly over the whole surface of the fish's body.

Answer 4

Yes,I just happened to see something about that last night,there below their skin so you can't see them but they hear very well