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from the dept. At the base of our brain, where the back of our neck meets our head, may lurk the voice of a 400 million-year-old fish.Chirps, croaks, growls even the dulcet tones of the human voice might have a common origin in an ancient brain metronome that coordinates the other-worldly grunts of several modern species of fish. Gulf toadfish and closely related midshipman fish emit low frequency groans to woo females and warn off rivals (see video, top right).Now an evolutionary kinship between these sounds and those produced by other animals has been suggested by researchers."In these animals their entire social life revolves around making sound and hearing sound," says neurobiologist Andrew Bass, of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. "Sound is their world."Vertebrates make sounds using precisely timed and coordinated muscle movements and scientists have studied the brain regions that control these movements in animals as diverse as songbirds, frogs, mice and monkeys. But few have examined fish calls, or the relevant brain regions of these animals, Bass says. Read more < Field assistant wanted – Falkland Islands – late Sept 2008 to late Dec 2009 | One Year Assistant Professor Position >
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Grunting fish tell of the origins of human speech
