Abstract:
Batticaloa is famed for the singing Fish and it is internationally known as the Land of that
SingingFish.AmongthemsingingfishofBatticaloawasspgcialintheSensethatnoont
Identified the creature making the noise so far. This unique attraction, the unusual sound
- described by others as "the sweetest trouble mingling with the lowest bass" and "that
Twanging in thirds of the G string on the violin"' There has been age-old controvert
Concerning the source of these sounds (like the tuning up of a string orchestra' which
predominant basses but none at all that they exist The sounds are best heard from April
to September; clearest on moonlight nights, waxing with the moon; and heard to best
Advantage with an ear placed against on oar thrust into the water from a boat in mid
lagoon. They have been explained variously as caused by fish and shellfish' of various
species or as caused by tides rushing through empty molluscs shells or fretted rocks in
the lagoon bed. Another theory is that they come from’ the Topsail Catfish which
congregates in great numbers in the lagoon during the appropriate periods more than that hardly even a few local inhabitants are aware of this phenomena. There are several evidences in the past to say that this is a solid fact not a fiction. Among the local who were aware of this phenomenon was swami Vipulananthar. It is acknowledged in encyclopedia Britannica in 1967. Sir Emerson tenant arrived in the then Ceylon in 1845
