Electricity helps communications: mormyrid electric eels
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Elephant nose fish / Gnatho Miche.. / License
The mormyrid electric fish communicate during courtship using electrical displays by varying waveform and pulse intervals.
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"Two other fish, the mormyrids and the knifefish gymnotids, use their electric organs to navigate. These organs create an electric force field that surrounds the fish as it swims, and is modified by the relative conductivity of objects in the fish's immediate surroundings. The fish detects and interprets these electrical fluctuations through electroreceptors embedded in its body, so that it has a constantly changing electrical image that enables it not only to navigate effectively around obstacles in even the darkest water but also to sense nearby prey, and anything else coming its way.
"The mormyrid's detection mechanism is so sensitive that it can distinguish between different species of fishes, and also between different sexes of its own species. In 1992, studies were conducted by Dr. Christian Graff from Pierre Mendès-France University in Grenoble, France, and Dr. Bernd Kramer of Germany's Regensburg University, using mormyrids specially trained to respond to certain signals. The studies revealed that these fish could even distinguish between different same-sex individuals of their own species. They detected and recognized the unique characteristics of pulse and frequency emitted by each individual." (Shuker 2001:53-54)
Brienomyrus brachyistius (Gill, 1862)
[Ruskonuijakala]
IUCN Red List Status: Unknown
Some organism data provided by: FishBase
Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist
Application Ideas: Communication methods, electrical products manufacturing, protective mechanisms for underwater structures, sensors.
Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Communication, electrical engineering, utilities, sensors
Wong, R. Y.; Hopkins, C. D. 2007. Electrical and behavioral courtship displays in the mormyrid fish Brienomyrus brachyistius. Journal of Experimental Biology. 210(13): 2244.
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Shuker, KPN. 2001.
The Hidden Powers of Animals: Uncovering the Secrets of Nature. London: Marshall Editions Ltd. 240 p.
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