Black Drummers of the Atlantic: The Insomnia Inducer in Florida

‘To bang one’s drum’ in an idiomatic sense is not considered a good trait. But in many fields, especially in politics and the corporate world, it is seen that If you aren’t prepared to play your drum a bit, you’ll never get noticed.  Not sure if the Black Drum, ‘Pogonias Cromis’ zoologically, a ray-finned fish found in the western North Atlantic Ocean got its name from its propensity to blow its own trumpet!  The habit is widely exhibited by homo-sapiens, though few would admit their pompousness. The portly fish however have no qualms about publicizing their virtues to those who care to listen!

Black Drums make frequent drumming noises. It should not have been a problem as one would expect their home, the vast ocean, to absorb the decibels emanating from the percussion activity easily. However, the fish is too loud for the comfort of the residents living on the shoreline, especially at night.  More bizarre is the joyful reason the ‘drums’ get activated. The marine animals who typically live off the coast produce a sound similar to a speaker’s bass when they mate. The fish flex their muscles against their swim bladder to produce drum-like sound at low frequencies.

Now this is interesting, if not cheesy.  The news is coming from Tampa Bay residents in the state of Florida, the US.  Many were getting disturbed and anxious about the nocturnal sonic booms they were hearing and were unable to fix the origin.   One can be forgiven for conjuring up fearful scenarios around such suspicious sounds.  With imagination running riot, even an enemy submarine activity was also there on the mental horizon of the troubled local population.   After all, there is no dearth of enemies for America!  Some of the intrepid folks went around the coast on foot and in vehicles following the direction of the sound.  The leads were misleading, often giving the impression the drummer was ahead and after a while from behind and sides.  Enough tension-inducing like a Hollywood potboiler!  Usual suspects like social clubs (loud music) and construction activity turned out to be false suspects.  Many lost sleep, and nights turned nightmarish.  The real estate market in the area was about to take a hit – who wants to be on a ‘ghostly’ coast where paranormal sounds keep you distressed and awake?   

However, the anti-climax was provided by a Marine scientist  – ‘oh boy, it’s fishy’ – who opined that the drummers are in the sea busy with procreation and very much harmless! To give empirical evidence, plans are afoot to place microphones underwater to determine once and for all the sound’s origins. It appears the number of black drummers has increased exponentially as the fish couples have become cupid-struck and spawning-spree is on.  It’s easy to assess that excessive promiscuity leads to the timpanists’ expansion!  Given their size (a bigger black drummer grows to 30-50 kgs) and propensity to fight, catching them is not a cakewalk for many fishermen.  

A search proved that the experience is not unique to Tampa Bay, Similar incidents of sleep-busting booms from the sea were reported from some other parts of Florida also and the culprits were a school or two of Black Drummers having a night of fun! 

Florida coastline inhabitants now relate easily to the mention ‘there is something fishy about it’, though their comprehension may have a different connotation to what others may conjure up of the expression!