Do sharks like hip hop?
German aquarists have been playing hip hop and soft rock to sharks in an attempt to get them to breed.
Picture: Oldak Quill, Creative Commons Licence
A couple of weeks ago the papers were filled with stories about "Great White" sharks around the Cornish coast, and now The Independent reports that German scientists are playing them soft rock and hip hop to try and get them to breed.
Apparently, 10 Sea Life centres in Germany have been playing the sharks in their aquariums piped-music, ranging from Justin Timerlake to Joe Cocker, to see whether it has any effect on their libido.
Staff at German Sea Life centres had observed a decline in the number of captive bred offspring recorded, and wanted to test the theory that playing them music might stir their libidos.
"The creatures swam around each other and it seemed that they were dancing with each other while listening to Joe Cocker, Jens Hirzig, display supervisor at Sea Life Timmendorf was reported as saying.
It seems more like a publicity stunt to me, but it either appears to have done the trick, or it didn't prove too distracting, as some of the sharks did spawn successfully.
Zebra sharks at the Konstanz Sea Life centre were "courting heavily" after being played Rock Your Body by Justin Timberlake.
Cat sharks and dogfish at the Speyer Sea Life centre laid 50 eggs after being played Salt-n-Pepa's push it for two hours a day.
And, a two-hour loop-tape of Joe Cocker's You Can Leave Your Hat On was followed by 50 dogfish and hammerhead shark eggs at the Timmendorf Sea Life centre.
It doesn't say whether the results were statistically significant or differed from the norm expected during the same period, so I think it's going to be a while before you see Salt-n-Pepa tracks being recommended in any of John Rundle's fish breeding articles...
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Matt Clarke: Wed August 15, 2007, 10:37 amViews: This entry has been read 3,634 times.
6 comments on: Do sharks like hip hop?
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"Are you sure this article should have been published now ? I would have held it back until next April , April the 1st. Whatever next ? I should think a large water change , increased or even decreased lightning would have a better effect. There is also the theory that despite being fish , sharks will not over produce in an environment where they cannot be sustained.The confinement to an aquarium all be it a large one has clearly impressed upon the sharks natural biological cycle."
Posted by: Myles Roberts - 2 years, 3 months agoDate: Monday August 20th, 2007, 7:49 am
"Hi Y'all,
They should try Je T'aime moi non plus.
That always did it for me!
Kindest Regards
Robert"
Date: Monday August 20th, 2007, 7:56 pm
"LOL all fish are deaf so it is a waste of time"
Posted by: Kit Morrison - 2 years, 2 months agoDate: Thursday August 30th, 2007, 2:54 pm
"Kit, fish actually have very sensitive hearing. Many (possibly most) also produce sound to communicate with each other."
Posted by: Matt Clarke - 2 years, 2 months agoDate: Thursday August 30th, 2007, 2:58 pm
"They should have tried "Underwater Love" by Smoke City"
Posted by: Jason Collins-webb - 2 years, 2 months agoDate: Tuesday September 4th, 2007, 10:03 am
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Comments feed | Editor-in-Chief, Matt Clarke, writes the regular Interesting Imports column on rare and unusual fish in the UK aquarium trade. He's kept fish for 30 years and holds a degree, two higher degrees and two diplomas in fish biology, taxonomy and computational biology. |
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"They probably bred so's the keepers would turn the bloody music off!!"
Posted by: Andrew Lock - 2 years, 3 months agoDate: Thursday August 16th, 2007, 8:45 pm