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Trout Hearing
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Trout have highly developed dual hearing
systems. First, the ears in their heads are
used to detect the movement of nearby
objects. These ears allow the trout to hear
sound frequencies well outside the human
hearing range. This hearing receptor of the
trout is what allows the fish to find food
even in very murky water.
Fish also have a lateral-line system on each
side of their bodies that picks up frequency
vibrations. This lateral line, which runs
from behind the head to the base of the
tail, is a series of tiny drum-like
membranes with nerve endings that run back
to the spinal cord.
Trout have inner ears, which allow them to
hear sounds as we do. They also have lateral
lines, special sense organs used to “feel”
sounds. Lateral lines allow trout to hear
sounds that are too low for humans to hear.
The trout's three-chambered 'internal' ear
picks up sound very well. If you drop your
glasses in the bottom of the boat, a trout
across a large lake will easily hear that
sound and the nearby trout will probably be
spooked into a non-feeding phase by the
noise.
trout are easily able to hear things that
fall into a river, especially in slower
water. A nearby trout can readily hear a
grasshopper or other bug that falls into the
river. Because of this, care must be taken
in casting to prevent the fly line from
making a splash in the water or from having
the fly itself strike the river at full
force. A gently dropping fly is far more
likely to attract the attention of a trout
than one that gets slammed into the river
due to a bad cast or too heavy of a fly or
fly line. |
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