What Are Your Cichlids Saying Behind Your Back?

[robertprice]

Since Barlow's documentation of 16 cichlid recordings in the year 2000, the number of noisy cichlids has now increased to the hundreds. They have rudimentary vocabularies of pops, clicks, whistles, purrs, clicks, squeaks, grunts, groans, barks, hoots, rattles, tinkles, humming and drumming. Although their languages have not yet been well deciphered, most have words for "food, scared, angry, I'm dominant, and i'm a good breeder."

Midas Cichlids and Lake Malawi Cichlids are the most talkative, and the males go on non-stop rants while attracting, dancing, and mating with females. Many species of female cichlids prefer not only the biggest and most colorful males, but the loudest ones as well. If you were to put a giant hydrophone in Lake Malawi, it would sound like a deafening disco. I wont speculate on what the males are singing while they are dancing, as there may be children reading this.

The sounds are produced by the sonic muscle in the swim bladder, or by stridulation of their teeth and jaws.