1861, Sir J. Emerson Tennent, "Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon with Narratives and Anecdotes Illustrative of the Habits and Instincts of the Mammalia, Birds, Reptiles, Fishes, Insects, &C. including A Monograph of the Elephant and A Description of the Modes of Capturing and Training It with Engravings From Original Drawings", K. C. S. Ll. D. &C. They believed them to proceed not from a fish, but from a shell, which is known by the Tamil name of oorie cooleeroo cradoo, or the "crying shell," a name in which the sound seems to have been adopted as an echo to the sense.
