This Tiny Fish Can Produce Sounds That Are As Loud As A Firecracker

One of the smallest fish in the world can make a sound registering more than 140 decibels – as loud as exploding firecrackers.

Only 12 millimeters long, but louder than 140 decibels: Danionella cerebrum. (Credit: Ralf Britz / Senckenberg)

As a lifelong fishkeeper, I’m familiar with noisy fish. Perhaps my favorite noisy aquarium fish are the Synodontis catfishes, which produce a rasping sound that resembles a growl that can easily be heard outside their aquarium during territorial disputes.

But now we can add another species to our list of noisy fish: Danionella cerebrum. These tiny freshwater fish are found in turbid low altitude streams on the southern and eastern slopes of the Pegu Ran mountain range in Myanmar. Danionella cerebrum are closely related to — and closely resemble — zebrafish and because of their transparency, it is possible to observe its brain in action and thus, they are prized as a model organism for biomedical research.