Quoted By:
I take walks in the woods and a brook near house is almost totally dried out. Only a small trickle of water and a small pool about 10 feed wide and 3 feet deep. For the first time I've noticed MY LOCAL BROOK HAS FISH! They were trapped in the small pool and couldn't move along the brook. I think they were some sort of trout because they had long slender bodies and white tips on their fins. Ranged from 3-6 inches in size and they were VERY skittish. They saw me from 10 feet away and hide inside the overhanging roots.
I decided to test my patience and see if I could wait them out and snap a photo of them. I sat perfectly still for over half an hour. Then I started to see a small ripple from one side of the root overhang. Then an identical ripple from the other side of the overhang. They went back and forth like this for about 5 minutes each time the ripples would grew in intensity. Then when the ripples were so big you could hear them splashing the water to make them and it all stopped very suddenly. Then there came out and there were a half dozen fish in this tiny little pool of water. I reached for my camera phone to snap a photo and as soon as I moved my arm a few inches they all darted back into the overhanging roots in the blink of an eye.
Were they communicating with each other? Using the ripples to tell each other what they see. Warning each other of potential dangers and predators? I didn't think fish communicated at all.
