One of world’s smallest fish found to make sound as loud as a gunshot • Hacker News Board

Re: One of world’s smallest fish found to make sound as loud as a gunshot

#61

Post by xoxxala » Thu, Feb 29, 2024, 1:28 AM UTC

HPsquared wrote: post #52

WhitneyLand wrote: post #21

Seems like very misleading science reporting. It relies on the wow factor of a 12mm fish producing a sound as loud as what many people would associate with a jet engine (>140db). - Sound levels are usually assumed to be measured 1m away. For the fish, it’s measured one body length away (inverse square law applies) - Jet engines are often measured from many meters away (again inverse square law) - The fish’s sound is…

Also it's underwater. I bet if someone tried to fire a gun underwater, the pressure wave (sound) would be louder than usual.

The sound wouldn’t be noticeably louder at the source, but would travel faster (sound travels 4x faster in water than in air) and farther.

Re: One of world’s smallest fish found to make sound as loud as a gunshot

#62

Post by msrenee » Thu, Feb 29, 2024, 4:43 AM UTC

UncleOxidant wrote: post #44

pwython wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relevant neat video of Mantis Shrimp breaking glass, albeit thin test tubes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSRahhMdfxM

wait, how is Dom the domino fish surviving with that mantis shrimp? Or is Dom just food for the mantis shrimp?

He's just fast enough to stay away.

Re: One of world’s smallest fish found to make sound as loud as a gunshot

#63

Post by SkyPuncher » Thu, Feb 29, 2024, 5:44 AM UTC

kdfjgbdfkjgb wrote: post #24

"produces sounds that exceed 140 decibels" is a nonsense statement. They probably meant dBSPL.

I agree with the other commenter, doesn't really seem to matter in this setting.

Colloquially, "decibel" is a widely known scale ranging from "I can barely hear that" to "holy crap, that's loud". 140 decibels communicates this fish is capable of a surprisingly loud sound - which is surprising. I don't really care if it's entirely accurate. I simply know that it's "surprisingly loud".

Re: One of world’s smallest fish found to make sound as loud as a gunshot

#64

Post by ssl-3 » Thu, Feb 29, 2024, 9:14 AM UTC

qup wrote: post #35

paulrpotts wrote: post #29

It’s always disappointing to me when articles describing a sound don’t include an audio clip. Someone must have a hydrophone recording!

There was a video with audio.

And also a link to the entire study, with sonograms and high-speed photos and the whole 9 yards.