A fingernail-sized fish makes as much noise as a rock drill!

Scientists have discovered that a small, transparent fish makes as much noise as a rock drill.

In a study conducted at a laboratory in Germany, scientists investigating mysterious sounds in an aquarium determined that a fish called Danionella cerebrum produces a powerful sound.

The fish produces this sound using an organ called a swim bladder, and in the waters near the fish, it was recorded on a sound meter at 140 decibels, which is as loud as a gunshot.

Researchers believe that this 12 mm long fish is the loudest fish found to date relative to its size.

It is thought that this rhythm may be a form of social communication.

In nature, generally, the larger the animal, the louder its sound. However, the situation is different in the underwater world - this tiny sea creature has emerged as one of the loudest species ever discovered.

Scientists already knew that creatures like the pistol shrimp could produce loud sounds of up to approximately 200 decibels while hunting.

Danionella is of interest because, due to its transparency, its brain can be seen while it is functioning, allowing researchers to study its behavior closely.

While researchers were working with these fish in their laboratory at Charité University of Berlin, something interesting was noticed.

Lead author and doctoral student Verity Cook said, "People walking by the fish tanks would hear these sounds and wonder where they were coming from."

Cook also noted the following:

"It turned out the sounds were coming from the fish themselves. This is extraordinary because they are so small but so loud. In terms of communication signals, I haven't found any other animal of this size that makes such a loud sound."

The research team used a series of microphones and video cameras to determine how loud the sound was.

Cook states that the amplitude of the sound near the fish is about 140 decibels and said that this indicates how loud it is perceived by other fish.

Cook said, "The sound weakens with distance, so at a distance of one meter, the amplitude is about 108 decibels." This is roughly equivalent to the noise produced by a bulldozer.

However, a large portion of this sound reflects back into the water, so when people stand next to the fish tanks, they hear it as a constant buzzing.

Although there are other louder fish, they are all much larger than Danionella.

Researchers argue that the sound mechanism used by the fish is a very sophisticated instrument.

All bony fish have a gas-filled swim bladder that helps them stay underwater. Many fish species use their muscles to hit this bladder to make sound, but Danionella goes further.

When its muscles contract, they pull a rib, which creates tension with a piece of cartilage located inside the muscle, and when the cartilage is released, it strikes the swim bladder.

This sound is only produced when males of the species are together. Some can produce louder sounds than others.

Furthermore, Cook noted, "We know that when eight males are together in a large tank, three of them will dominate the sound production and the others will remain silent. So we think there is a kind of hierarchy."

Researchers believe that evolution in the murky waters of Myanmar played a role in developing a great ability to make sound to help them communicate.

According to Cook, "Evolution finds interesting ways to solve many interesting problems. When we know how things work in other species, we shouldn't assume the same thing for all of them."

The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.