Sing like fish: How sound rules life under water

In Sing Like Fish, Canadian science writer Amorina Kingdon uses her narrative skill to bring readers under water, where she states that “sound mediates lives.” The 10 chapters in the book explore this thesis through three primary lines of questioning: (1) What is sound and how does hearing function under water? (2) How do marine animals produce, detect and interpret sounds? (3) How is anthropogenic activity changing marine soundscapes? Kingdon addresses these core questions by weaving together the history of acoustic research, vivid descriptions of early scientific experiments and present-day field studies. Throughout, she recounts personal experiences interacting with the marine environment and interviewing experts. She introduces a variety of biologists and field scientists and their research, which span field stations in the high Arctic to the collections of natural history museums. The chapters are packed with case studies ranging from “auditions” — efforts to record the undocumented sounds of marine organisms — to beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas and bearded seal Erignathus barbatus tagging experiments. Furthermore, she includes interesting historical backstories that highlight the ethically questionable experiments used by early scientists, such as the blinding of fish. These case studies display the variety of aquatic species that shape and are shaped by their acoustic environment. To our knowledge, Sing Like Fish is the first popular science publication exclusively focused on the acoustics of life under water. Kingdon is successful in ensuring that this book is more accessible to a general audience than academic journal articles on this topic. She guides the reader through acoustic concepts (e.g., sound attenuation, particle motion) and morphological structures (e.g., statocysts) using carefully chosen metaphors and language that avoids unexplained technical jargon. While at times it seems that Kingdon casts her net too wide in determining what to include—and chapter 10, in particular, is quite sprawling—she is successful overall in assembling a wide array of research into a compelling primer on underwater acoustics. Despite its title, Sing Like Fish does not devote the majority of its 10 chapters to fishes. There are passages describing fish sounds, such as the once-mystifying hum created by the Plainfin Midshipman Porichthys notatus and the courtship grunts of the Frillfin Goby Bathygobius soporator, but several chapters are dominated by discussion of marine mammals (primarily cetaceans) and to a lesser extent, invertebrates. While ichthyologists seeking a book dedicated to soniferous fishes may find that this book does not deliver the depth they expected, it is certainly targeted toward an audience that is interested in the broader disciplines of marine biology and bioacoustics. The technical concepts covered by Kingdon are well explained, although the nature of the acoustic focus makes the book most appealing for readers with some background in the sciences, either through formal education or personal interest. The inclusion of passages drawing attention to poor animal welfare during historical experiments encourages readers to extend empathy as well as scientific curiosity toward lesser-known marine organisms. The formatting of Sing Like Fish is most suitable for casual reading and features clever chapter titles with small, visually appealing illustrations and related quotations at the ­beginning of each chapter. Academics using the text as a research tool would find the citation style somewhat cumbersome; the references are provided at the back of the book by page number and are separated by chapter, but there are no in-text notations to indicate which content is referenced. Certain sections, such as the lengthy description of odontocete morphology in chapter 5, could have been made more concise by incorporating an appropriate figure. However, Sing Like Fish is also available as an audiobook and the scarcity of figures in the text as written makes this translation possible. As a group of interdisciplinary students and researchers in the marine sciences, we found Sing Like Fish to be an enjoyable and refreshingly approachable work on the not-so-silent underwater world. Kingdon’s talent for marrying rich prose and effective science communication draws the reader in and delivers a readable experience that is immersive, relatable, and educational.

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