Sex recognition and neuronal coding of electric organ discharge waveform in the pulse-type weakly electric fish,Hypopomus occidentalis

1988 ◽  
Vol 163 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroly A. Shumway ◽  
Randy D. Zelick
Keyword(s):  
Electric Fish ◽  
Electric Organ Discharge ◽  
Electric Organ ◽  
Weakly Electric Fish ◽  
Sex Recognition ◽  
Neuronal Coding ◽  
Pulse Type ◽  
Weakly Electric

scholarly journals Tethered unitary recordings suggest a spike-timing electrosensory code in the electrosensory lobe of Gymnotus omarorum

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejo Rodríguez-Cattáneo ◽  
Ana-Carolina Pereira ◽  
Pedro A. Aguilera ◽  
Ángel A. Caputi
Keyword(s):  
Electric Fish ◽  
Electric Organ Discharge ◽  
Electric Organ ◽  
Spike Timing ◽  
Weakly Electric Fish ◽  
Wave Type ◽  
Timing Pattern ◽  
Pulse Type ◽  
Weakly Electric ◽  
The Brain

AbstractEvaluation of neural activity during natural behaviours is essential for understanding how the brain works. Here we show that neuron-specific self-evoked firing patterns are modulated by an object’s presence, at the electrosensory lobe neurons of tethered-moving Gymnotus omarorum. This novel preparation shows that electrosensory signals in these pulse-type weakly electric fish are not only encoded in the number of spikes per electric organ discharge (EOD), as is the case in wave-type electric fish, but also in the spike timing pattern after each EOD, as found in pulse-type Mormyroidea. Present data suggest that pulsant electrogenesis and spike timing coding of electrosensory signals developed concomitantly in the same species, and evolved convergently in African and American electric fish.

scholarly journals Electrical signalling of dominance in a wild population of electric fish

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Fugère ◽  
Hernán Ortega ◽  
Rüdiger Krahe
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Electric Fish ◽  
Electric Organ Discharge ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Electric Organ ◽  
Weakly Electric Fish ◽  
Dominance Status ◽  
Strong Positive Relationship ◽  
Electrical Signalling ◽  
Weakly Electric

Animals often use signals to communicate their dominance status and avoid the costs of combat. We investigated whether the frequency of the electric organ discharge (EOD) of the weakly electric fish, Sternarchorhynchus sp., signals the dominance status of individuals. We correlated EOD frequency with body size and found a strong positive relationship. We then performed a competition experiment in which we found that higher frequency individuals were dominant over lower frequency ones. Finally, we conducted an electrical playback experiment and found that subjects more readily approached and attacked the stimulus electrodes when they played low-frequency signals than high-frequency ones. We propose that EOD frequency communicates dominance status in this gymnotiform species.

scholarly journals Male-mediated species recognition among African weakly electric fishes

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 170443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Nagel ◽  
Frank Kirschbaum ◽  
Jacob Engelmann ◽  
Volker Hofmann ◽  
Felix Pawelzik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fish Species ◽  
Electric Fish ◽  
Electric Organ Discharge ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Electric Organ ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Weakly Electric Fish ◽  
Offspring Production ◽  
Association Preference ◽  
Weakly Electric

Effective communication among sympatric species is often instrumental for behavioural isolation, where the failure to successfully discriminate between potential mates could lead to less fit hybrid offspring. Discrimination between con- and heterospecifics tends to occur more often in the sex that invests more in offspring production, i.e. females, but males may also mediate reproductive isolation. In this study, we show that among two Campylomormyrus African weakly electric fish species, males preferentially associate with conspecific females during choice tests using live fish as stimuli, i.e. when all sensory modalities potentially used for communication were present. We then conducted playback experiments to determine whether the species-specific electric organ discharge (EOD) used for electrocommunication serves as the cue for this conspecific association preference. Interestingly, only C. compressirostris males associated significantly more with the conspecific EOD waveform when playback stimuli were provided, while no such association preference was observed in C. tamandua males. Given our results, the EOD appears to serve, in part, as a male-mediated pre-zygotic isolation mechanism among sympatric species. However, the failure of C. tamandua males to discriminate between con- and heterospecific playback discharges suggests that multiple modalities may be necessary for species recognition in some African weakly electric fish species.

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