00:00Now the oceans certainly are an alien world and at times when we look at them it's very
00:07hard to find a connection.
00:09Well you may be surprised then to learn that a very simple humble fish is actually very
00:14very closely related to young teenage boys.
00:17Because herring for example, just like young teenagers, communicate by farting.
00:23They fart loud and they fart proud.
00:29Although this may not sound like any human flatulence you've ever heard, this is the
00:33genuine sound of herring farting.
00:38Scientists call them fast repetitive ticks, FRTs, farts.
00:49Herring do this because inside they have something called a swim bladder which is a balloon inside
00:57their bodies that allows them to control their buoyancy.
01:01They add gas to it to go up and they let gas out of it to go down.
01:07And when they let the gas out they let it out through their anal vent, which is a posh
01:12way of saying a fish bum.
01:15Of course when air comes out of a bum, fishy or not, it makes a bit of a noise.
01:29And it's through these farts that herring can communicate and let each other know that
01:34there are predators nearby or in the dark bring themselves together if they've been
01:39split through a day's foraging or from a random attack from a large predatory fish.
01:53So there you go, ladies and gentlemen, farts may be the bane of our existence, but for
01:57herring it's the lifeblood of their communication.
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