SCIENCE

Photo Contest Finalist—A Chorus of Mackerel

March 19, 2010

Can fish sing? Yes, they can, though I'm not sure about mackerel like the ones above. And they probably don't sound like anything you'd put on your iPod. But that wasn't what Alex Tattersall of Charminster, England, was searching for when we went on a dive last September in the Red Sea off Egypt. He was looking for a great photo, and he found one. Tattersall writes:

I saw a large school of these feeding mackerel towards the end of a lovely dive. ... I decided then to follow the school and try to isolate some individual fish. As luck would have it, these three subjects moved into this very photogenic position, and seem to be singing just like the three tenors or the barbershop trio.

Tattersall's photo, Chorus of mackerel, is a finalist in the Natural World category of Smithsonian magazine’s 7th Annual Photo Contest. Vote now for your favorite in the People’s Choice category; you can vote once a day until March 31. Contest winners will be announced in early summer.

Think you’ve got what it takes to win our photo contest? Our 8th Annual Photo Contest is now open. Good luck to all who enter!

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