Can Fish Hear?
Fish don’t have ears that we can see, but they do have ear parts inside their heads. They pick up sounds in the water through their bodies and in the ear, according to the National Wildlife Federation. A fish also senses movement in the water with the lateral lines that runs down each side of its body. Sharks, which are fish, have a keen ability to sense electricity. Oddly the genes that contribute to this ability are responsible for the head and facial features in humans, linking sharks and humans to a common ancestor way back in time. Human ears, interestingly, evolved from fish gills.
“. The answer to this question is “yes, fish can hear”. However, their hearing isn’t the same as human hearing. If you were to creep up behind someone and say “boo” they would probably jump out of their skin at the sound of your voice. If you were to do the same thing to your fish, you would get absolutely no reaction whatsoever. So why is this then? Fish don’t have external ears like mammals, however they have got hearing parts inside their head. They also have an organ called the lateral line. A fish will hear through vibrations in the water. The lateral line will pick this vibration and pass it to its hearing parts. So if you were to play a radio very loudly outside the tank, the Oscar would not hear it. If you were to submerge the radio under the water, it would create vibrations in the water and the Oscar would hear it. I should add that I’m not suggesting you try this yourself. Also, if you were to use a lot of bass on a music system located near to the aquarium, this might in te
Yes, fishcan hear, but hearing abilities vary among species. Hearing in fishes involves the sensory chambers of the inner ear. Each chamber is lined with sensory hair cells and contains an otolith (ear stone). http://www.amonline.net.au/FISHES/faq/canfishhear.
All fish can probably hear sounds produced in the water. Fish can also hear sounds made on shore or above the water if they are loud enough. Catfish and certain other fish have a keen sense of hearing. Fish have an inner ear enclosed in a chamber on each side of the head. Each ear consists of a group of pouches and tubelike canals. Fish have no outer ears or eardrums to receive sound vibrations. Sound vibrations are carried to the inner ears by the body tissues.
I would like to add to GabeCohens very good answer that fish are also able to detect shock waves in the water like from a rock thrown in to the water or from quick movements close to them, I can’t give you the scientific explanation for that but fish have a line along their bodies from head to tail, this line has nerve endings that detect those waves, you can see this line very good on a Pike.
