Original air date: 5 December 1990
Selected sequences
The toadfish
A female toadfish attracted to recordings of a song from a male toadfish. The sounds are produced by vibrating the swim bladder. Can be heard above water almost as clearly as in water. Very annoying to people neighbours.
The male can, not only produce sound, he can also use light signals to contact the opposite sex
Final words (after enjoying time swimming with dolphins in an aquarium and witnessing them communicating with each other): “… So these animals can communicate in four different ways – with sounds which we can hear, with ultrasounds which we can’t, with body postures which change the meaning of any one sound, and with touch. The result is an amazingly complex web of communication, unexcelled by any other animal except ourselves. But how marvellous it would be if we could become a part of that.”