Cod drumming

Did you know that cod dance and play music? Come and experience music with cod humming, moaning, snapping and drumming. Hear about the cod's secret life, and how we humans disturb it - and join a cod band!

The cod is careful in choosing a partner, and the male performs an impressive ritual to attract the female. While the female lies ready to spawn on the bottom and evaluates him, the male starts humming, moaning, snapping and drumming, all accompanied by dance-like movements. If the female is impressed, she shows it by exposing her belly. The male then locks his fin to her, and the sounds climax as fertilization takes place – their two contributions mixing in the water. To protect these life buds, the male pushes the female to the surface, but despite his efforts, around 10 percent are stolen by random males nearby. Eventually, the drumming slowly diminishes, until it disappears completely. Now the interdisciplinary research project Torsketromming has managed to capture these fascinating sounds on recording. It is the sound of another world – namely that of the cod.

Cod rumming explores the culture of the cod and how it is influenced by humans. The project is led by Rebekah Oomen, associate professor at the University of New Brunswick Saint John and a researcher associated with universities in Gothenburg, Agder and Oslo. Among the partners are composer and musician John Andrew Wilhite from the Norwegian College of Music and bioakoustic Claudia Lacroix at the University of Agder.

This weekend we are so lucky to hear both Oomen and Wilhite. We will listen to music based on underwater recordings of cod mating sounds, learn about males with large drum muscles, cod's local dialects and man -made myths that hide that cod's mating rituals are threatened by our activity in the sea. Finally, we are also lucky to try to play on a keyboard with cod sounds!