Sing Like Fish

 

 Publishers Weekly, starred review: "The ocean is not and has never been a silent place,’ according to this exquisite debut inquiry . . . Kingdon’s descriptions are as edifying as they are evocative . . . [Sing Like Fish] will open readers’ eyes, and ears, to a heretofore hidden world.”

underwater, sound is fundamental.

SING LIKE FISH is driven by the emerging science of just how many animals under water, from larvae to lobsters to sea lions, rely on—and are impacted by—sound. Sound travels four times faster under water than in air, and in the right conditions can be detected from dozens to thousands of kilometers across the sea from its source. (Yes, you read that right). Light is limited in deep or murky water, as are smell, touch, taste, and most other senses. Yet sound conveys so much information about food, threats, friends, and enemies, that even animals that don’t speak, or have anything we’d recognize as an ear, still find ways to listen. This is also why the din of ships, pile drivers, motorboats, sonar, air guns, and other human-made noise is so concerning.

PRAISE

“Amorina Kingdon's Sing Like Fish is that rare book that makes you see the world differently, at least the two-thirds that is ocean. For someone like me, who has always loved and tried to understand the sea, this fascinating book makes you feel closer to the life that is teeming there.” —Mark Kurlansky, New York Times Bestselling Author of Salt and Cod

“Those of us of a certain age grew up on Jacques Cousteau’s mischaracterization of the ocean as a “silent world.” Those growing up now come to an age of too much ocean noise from shipping, oil exploration, and military training. But for millions of years the ocean has been a place of sound and communication among creatures beyond number or comprehension. Luckily for us, in this wondrous book Amorina Kingdon skillfully conveys the aural textures and messaging that fills the vast liquid world within our world.” –Carl Safina, New York Times Bestselling Author of Alfie and Me

“Science writer Amorina Kingdon’s fascinating and brilliant book, Sing Like Fish, introduces us to the soundscape of the sea —  a mysterious and endangered realm marine biologists are just starting to understand. In lively, urgent, and sometimes humorous prose, Kingdon describes fish that drum, grunt, moan — and fart — to communicate. Baby coral can detect the sound of a reef and move toward it. But human noise pollution, from shipping lanes to seismic exploration, is threatening the ability of underwater creatures to communicate just as we start to understand and appreciate the complex songs of the oceans.”  —Cat Warren, author of the New York Times bestseller What the Dog Knows: Scent, Science, and the Amazing Ways Dogs Perceive the World.

“Sing Like Fish is brilliant, poetic and poignant. Kingdon opens a world of sound to her readers that most will never hear themselves—for how many of us carry hydrophones to drop into a sea or lake so we can eavesdrop on the fish? How many of us knew fish were singing in the watery depths or that coral reefs are some of the loudest places on our planet, continually rocked by the near-deafening pops of snapping shrimp? Yet these special sounds are endangered by our noisy human activities—ships, construction, the blasts of air guns—all interrupt the conversations of the deep. Scientists only began to study the songs of fishes, whales and shrimp in the last century. May we celebrate this underwater symphony, not destroy it.”  —Virginia Morell, author of New York Times bestseller, Animal Wise: How We Know Animals Think and Feel

“Amorina Kingdon’s perspective-changing book about sound in the sea is certain to make an enormous splash! Yes, there's whale song, but like a sound wave this book ripples outward, showing how critical the soundscape is to the smallest and most foundational animals as well. I learned so much from Sing Like Fish, and had a ball reading it too!” –Juli Berwald, author of SPINELESS: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone

“Sing like Fish reveals what the limits of human ears silence. Splendid and surprising voices beneath the waves are singing of longing and hunger and love, and who knows what else. This book is a revelation! I loved it!” –Sy Montgomery, New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness