One of world’s smallest fish found to make sound as loud as a gunshot

Scientists discover how Danionella cerebrum, measuring width of adult human fingernail, can create noises exceeding 140 decibels

One of the world’s smallest fish, measuring about the width of an adult human fingernail, can make a sound as loud as a gunshot, scientists have said.

The male Danionella cerebrum, a fish of about 12mm found in the streams of Myanmar, produces sounds that exceed 140 decibels, according to the study published in the PNAS journal, equal to an ambulance siren or jackhammer.