The Loudest Fish Chorus on Earth
Each spring, more than a million fish gather in a Mexican river delta and sing together so loudly it sounds like a stadium full of people, or machine-gun fire.
What was reported
The Gulf corvina is a fish found only in the northern Gulf of California. Every spring, around the new and full moons, nearly the entire population, more than a million fish, swims into the Colorado River Delta to spawn.
The males make rapid, rattling calls with muscles that drum on their swim bladders. Together, the chorus is so loud, scientists reported in 2019, that it could damage the hearing of dolphins and sea lions nearby. Fishermen find them easily by the sound.
Explanations offered
The noise helps the fish find each other to spawn. It also makes them easy to catch, which has made the species vulnerable to overfishing.
- When
- Every spring
- Where
- Colorado River Delta, Mexico
- Witnesses
- Fishermen and scientists
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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