A captivating exploration of how underwater animals tap into sound to survive, and a clarion call for humans to address the ways we invade these critical soundscapes — from an award-winning science writer.
For centuries humans ignored sound in the ‘silent world’ of the ocean, assuming that what we couldn’t perceive didn’t exist. But we couldn’t have been more wrong. Marine scientists now have the technology to record and study the complex interplay of the myriad sounds in the sea. Finally, we can trace how sounds travel with the currents, bounce from the seafloor and surface, bend with temperature, and even saltiness; how sounds help marine life survive; and how human noise can transform entire marine ecosystems.
In Sing Like Fish, award-winning science journalist Amorina Kingdon synthesises historical discoveries with the latest research in a clear and compelling portrait of this sonic undersea world. From plainfin midshipman fish, whose swim-bladder drumming is so loud it keeps houseboat-dwellers awake, to the syntax of whalesong, from the deafening crackle of snapping shrimp, to underwater earthquakes and volcanoes, sound plays a vital role in feeding, mating, parenting, navigating, and warning. Meanwhile, our seas also echo with human-made sound, and we are only just learning how these pervasive noises can mask mating calls, chase animals from their food, and even wound creatures.
Intimate and artful, Sing Like Fish tells a uniquely complete story of ocean animals’ submerged sounds, envisions a quieter future, and offers a profound new understanding of the world below the surface.
‘At last researchers are beginning to appreciate the glorious biological soundscape of the oceans, which Canadian science writer Amorina Kingdon describes vividly in Sing Like Fish.’
Clive Cookson, Financial Times
‘Fluidly marrying personal reflection and observation with science and history, and illuminated by fascinating facts and moments of beauty and grace, Sing Like Fish is both a love song to the wonders of the underwater world and a reminder of the vulnerability of the extraordinary beings that inhabit it.’
James Bradley, author of Deep Water: the world in the ocean
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‘Exquisite … Kingdon’s descriptions are as edifying as they are evocative … This will open readers’ eyes, and ears, to a heretofore hidden world.’
Publishers Weekly, starred review
‘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
‘Brilliant, poetic and poignant. Kingdon opens a world of sound to her readers that most will never hear themselves … 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? … 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 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 mischaracterisation 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 & Me
‘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
‘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
‘With historical insight and contemporary science, award-winning writer Kingdon details how the sonic array of the sea sings in ways humans cannot hear. Yet, deaf to the sounds, humans disturb it with a dangerous cacophony of their own. With dozens of line-drawings by the author.’
Library Journal
‘In precise and immersive prose, Amorina Kingdon takes a deep dive into this enchanting acoustic dimension to explore the latest scientific research on how denizens of the sea perceive sound and how it guides them to food, mates and helps them navigate their environment … Sing Like Fish opens our ears to the complexity and delicate balance in the symphony beneath the waves.’
Fiona Capp, The Sydney Morning Herald
‘Sing Like Fish charts the bizarre history of how scientists have learnt to listen to life under water … Kingdon translates the complex science of aquatic acoustics into plain, accessible language. At times, her descriptions take on a lively or poetic turn … Kingdon is an assured and skilled science writer. By taking the reader into the unknown, Sing Like Fish makes the world feel infinitely more immense and mysterious.’
Fiona Murphy, The Saturday Paper
