The Adventures of Cornish Cod in the land of Scousers

Over two years ago I began a University course in Liverpool, having traveled across the Pennines from the glorious lands of Yorkshire my accent stood out while I also found the scouse accent particularly confusing – especially when drunk (student life). But it’s not just students living far from home who are getting confused. Climate change has been warming our oceans so much that cold water species have started to migrate further North. This means that the Cornish Cod are now visiting Liverpudlion waters. It’s the start of a real North/South aquatic mixer! We all recognise the differences in culture between the North and South of England but it’s also likely that these differences appear in fish culture, especially regional accents. I know aquatic accents may sound a bit fishy but this is a real phenomenon.

Cod attract a mate by making sounds, a highly specialised ‘sonic muscle’ is drummed against the swim bladder to produce a thumping sound. But, as the Cornish cod and the Scouse cod start to mingle, the differences in their ‘accents’ could actually prevent them from communicating. Reminds me of on a night out in Liverpool when the native guys try to chat you up – can anyone understand them or are the chat up lines just so bad that you’re really better off not understanding?

Males produce sounds (back to Cod now in case anyone was confused) which stimulates females to release their eggs, this allows the males to synchronise when they release their sperm to fertilise the eggs. If the fish aren’t able to understand each other it could seriously damage their reproductive success. Even if Cornish Cod and Scouse Cod can set aside their differences and develop an understanding, there is still the issue of noise pollution.

Noise pollution in an area can drown out sweet mating sounds of male cod. Boats being driven past spawning grounds could have serious effects on the cod communication. It could be that the species manages to adapt over time to overcome this dilemma (similarly to how we over act our gestures when the music is too loud for you to ask your mates if they want a drink). Perhaps the male cod will develop some epic dance moves to seduce their lady friends, or they may have to start signalling louder to be heard. This would however require more energy, meaning the Cod would need to hunt more often which could have detrimental effects on the rest of the ecosystem.

Poor Scouse Cod not only do they have to cope with noise pollution but now they are being invaded by Southerners! Could life get any worse for them? Let’s just hope there isn’t a boom in the fish and chip shop trade…

Post by: Jennifer Rasal

References:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/04/cod-speak-with-regional-accents-scientists-believe/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Cod.jpg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37557945

http://www.fishecology.org/soniferous/waquoitposter.htm

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