Sing Like Fish: How Sound Rules Life Under Water

 
　　海洋經常被描述成一個寂靜的世界。事實上，海洋科學家的研究顯示，海面下的世界，從來不是個安靜的場域，對海中生物而言，它比我們所知的更熱鬧，甚至更吵雜！屢獲殊榮的科普記者阿莫里娜·金登（Amorina Kingdon）以平易近人的筆法，巧妙地呈現水下動物如何利用聲音來生存。
 
　　過往的幾世紀，人類在缺乏探測儀器的情況下，無法感知到海面下各種聲音的存在。如今，海洋科學家擁有了技術、紀錄和研究成果，發現海洋聲音中蘊藏了各種訊息，聲音可以隨著洋流傳播、從海底或水面反彈，隨著溫度甚至鹽分而改變。這些聲音協助海中生物定位方向、辨別危險、完成交配任務、孕育下一代、覓食……對海洋生態，至關重要！然而船舶、水上摩托車、人造工程等產生的噪音，卻掩蓋了海洋生物的生存所需的音訊交流。
 
　　本書以豐富知識及優美文字，拓展我們對海洋的認識，更呼籲大眾關注人類對生態環境的影響。(文/博客來編譯)

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

＂Sing Like Fish is that rare book that makes you see the world differently.＂--Mark Kurlansky, New York Times bestselling author of Salt and Cod

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 the 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 synthesizes historical discoveries with the latest scientific research in a clear and compelling portrait of this sonic undersea world. From plainfin midshipman fish, whose swim-bladder drumming is loud enough to keep houseboat-dwellers awake, to the syntax of whalesong; from the deafening crackle of snapping shrimp, to the seismic resonance of underwater earthquakes and volcanoes; sound plays a vital role in feeding, mating, parenting, navigating, and warning--even in animals that we never suspected of acoustic ability.

Meanwhile, we jump in our motorboats and cruise ships, oblivious to the impact below us. Our lifestyle is fueled by oil in growling tankers and furnished by goods that travel in massive container ships. Our seas echo with human-made sound, but we are just learning of the repercussions of anthropogenic noise on the marine world’s delicate acoustic ecosystems--masking mating calls, chasing animals from their food, and even wounding creatures, from plankton to lobsters.

With intimate and artful prose, 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.

Amorina Kingdon is a science writer whose work has been anthologized in Best Canadian Essays and received honors including a Digital Publishing Award, a Jack Webster Award, and Best New Magazine Writer from the National Magazine Awards. Previously, she was a staff writer for Hakai Magazine, and a science writer for the University of Victoria and the Science Media Center of Canada. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia.