On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 19:53:33 +1000, David Strike wrote:

>Having seen fishes 'fart' on at least a couple of occasions, ...

You pervert you ;-)

<snip of the kiwi shears>
>The guy from the Scripps Insitute spoke at length about all of the
>various sounds made from marine critters.  At the end of his
>presentation, the afore-mentioned Captain stood to his feet and asked,
>in a  broad, Sean Connery accent, "Tell me!  Do fishes fart?"  To
>which the answer was, in a rich American accent, "Yes"!

How did it take to get everyone up from the floor ;-)

are fishes in the herring family (Clupeidae) that are able to expel air
from the swim bladder through a unique rear duct. Via muscular alteration
of duct size and anal aperture, they can control the size of the bubbles
streaming out, and hence, control the pitch. "In essence, these fish 'fart
a tune,' used to confuse predators and communicate with conspecifics."
I then dissected some herring specimens and discovered that, in addition
to the presence of a pneumatic duct, herring had a small posterior
extension of the air bladder that opens alongside the anal opening.

I have heard that when the herring family (Clupeidae) expel air they can
control the size of the bubbles streaming out which they use to confuse
predators.  So I guess, depending on the pitch, they could fart a tune.
I thot ya mite like this little ditty - titled One (The Fart Song)
(to the tune of "One" from "A Chorus Line")
http://www.netaxs.com/~nukefish/one.htm

>Sadly we never got into the details of sound signatures.  (I wanted to
>know - having seen thousands of the bastards - what a Pilot Whale's farts
>sounded like?)  :-)

Trombone? :-)
Viv