By: Boya Hu

Although mermaids are known for their colorful fishy tails and their stunning singing, in reality, mermaids would have sound very different from the movies. In movies like “The Little Mermaid”, Ariel and her sister’s sing and it is heard clearly. In real life, scientists say that you would struggle to understand the words, even if you very close to one.

A mermaid’s hearing and their sound making would have evolved from a marine animal’s hearing and sound making forms. “You can still make up what she is saying, but it would sound fuller with less clarity.” says Jasleen Singh, who studies human hearing at Northern University in Evanston III.

Other animals also make sounds like mermaids would, but louder. For example, seahorses growl and click. The growling can go up to 115 decibels, which is louder than an ambulance’s siren. The clicking is made by skeleton sea horses. Skeleton sea horses click their bones together and make this sound. This clicking is also used for mating. Males click with females and mate with the female that clicks the most, according to Science New Explores.

A crackling shrimp snaps its claws to a snapping 220 decibels, which is louder than the Saturn 5, a rocket that was used to launch astronauts to the moon! While it clicks, it can send a flash of light and a shockwave that can kill nearby fish.

Whether it is mermaids or animals that make noises, scientists are still discovering more unknown sounds in the ocean.