scholarly journals The Use of Supervised Learning Models in Studying Agonistic Behavior and Communication in Weakly Electric Fish

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Pedraja ◽  
Hendrik Herzog ◽  
Jacob Engelmann ◽  
Sarah Nicola Jung
Keyword(s):  
Supervised Learning ◽  
Agonistic Behavior ◽  
Electric Fish ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Weakly Electric Fish ◽  
Size Difference ◽  
Sufficient Information ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Short Signal ◽  
Weakly Electric

Despite considerable advances, studying electrocommunication of weakly electric fish, particularly in pulse-type species, is challenging as very short signal epochs at variable intervals from a few hertz up to more than 100 Hz need to be assigned to individuals. In this study, we show that supervised learning approaches offer a promising tool to automate or semiautomate the workflow, and thereby allowing the analysis of much longer episodes of behavior in a reasonable amount of time. We provide a detailed workflow mainly based on open resource software. We demonstrate the usefulness by applying the approach to the analysis of dyadic interactions of Gnathonemus petersii. Coupling of the proposed methods with a boundary element modeling approach, we are thereby able to model the information gained and provided during agonistic encounters. The data indicate that the passive electrosensory input, in particular, provides sufficient information to localize a contender during the pre-contest phase, fish did not use or rely on the theoretically also available sensory information of the contest outcome-determining size difference between contenders before engaging in agonistic behavior.

scholarly journals Neuromodulation of the agonistic behavior in two species of weakly electric fish that display different types of aggression

2013 ◽  
Vol 216 (13) ◽  
pp. 2412-2420 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. Silva ◽  
R. Perrone ◽  
L. Zubizarreta ◽  
G. Batista ◽  
P. K. Stoddard
Keyword(s):  
Agonistic Behavior ◽  
Electric Fish ◽  
Weakly Electric Fish ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Weakly Electric

Communication with self, friends and foes in active-sensing animals

2021 ◽  
Vol 224 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
Te K. Jones ◽  
Kathryne M. Allen ◽  
Cynthia F. Moss
Keyword(s):  
Electric Fish ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Weakly Electric Fish ◽  
Active Sensing ◽  
Sensing Systems ◽  
Risk Of Predation ◽  
Evolutionary Success ◽  
Specialized Form ◽  
Weakly Electric

ABSTRACT Animals that rely on electrolocation and echolocation for navigation and prey detection benefit from sensory systems that can operate in the dark, allowing them to exploit sensory niches with few competitors. Active sensing has been characterized as a highly specialized form of communication, whereby an echolocating or electrolocating animal serves as both the sender and receiver of sensory information. This characterization inspires a framework to explore the functions of sensory channels that communicate information with the self and with others. Overlapping communication functions create challenges for signal privacy and fidelity by leaving active-sensing animals vulnerable to eavesdropping, jamming and masking. Here, we present an overview of active-sensing systems used by weakly electric fish, bats and odontocetes, and consider their susceptibility to heterospecific and conspecific jamming signals and eavesdropping. Susceptibility to interference from signals produced by both conspecifics and prey animals reduces the fidelity of electrolocation and echolocation for prey capture and foraging. Likewise, active-sensing signals may be eavesdropped, increasing the risk of alerting prey to the threat of predation or the risk of predation to the sender, or drawing competition to productive foraging sites. The evolutionary success of electrolocating and echolocating animals suggests that they effectively counter the costs of active sensing through rich and diverse adaptive behaviors that allow them to mitigate the effects of competition for signal space and the exploitation of their signals.

scholarly journals The complexity of high-frequency electric fields degrades electrosensory inputs: implications for the jamming avoidance response in weakly electric fish

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (138) ◽  
pp. 20170633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron R. Shifman ◽  
John E. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Electric Field ◽  
Avoidance Response ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Electric Fish ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Weakly Electric Fish ◽  
Uniform Field ◽  
Jamming Avoidance Response ◽  
Jamming Avoidance ◽  
Weakly Electric

Sensory systems encode environmental information that is necessary for adaptive behavioural choices, and thus greatly influence the evolution of animal behaviour and the underlying neural circuits. Here, we evaluate how the quality of sensory information impacts the jamming avoidance response (JAR) in weakly electric fish. To sense their environment, these fish generate an oscillating electric field: the electric organ discharge (EOD). Nearby fish with similar EOD frequencies perform the JAR to increase the difference between their EOD frequencies, i.e. their difference frequency (DF). The fish determines the sign of the DF: when it has a lower frequency (DF > 0), EOD frequency is decreased and vice versa . We study the sensory basis of the JAR in two species: Apteronotus leptorhynchus have a high frequency ( ca 1000 Hz), spatio-temporally heterogeneous electric field, whereas Eigenmannia sp. have a low frequency ( ca 300 Hz), spatially uniform field. We show that the increased complexity of the Apteronotus field decreases the reliability of sensory cues used to determine the DF. Interestingly, Apteronotus responds to all JAR stimuli by increasing EOD frequency, having lost the neural pathway that produces JAR-related decreases in EOD frequency. Our results suggest that electric field complexity may have influenced the evolution of the JAR by degrading the related sensory information.

scholarly journals The weakly electric fish, Apteronotus albifrons, actively avoids experimentally induced hypoxia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Mucha ◽  
Lauren J. Chapman ◽  
Rüdiger Krahe
Keyword(s):  
Active Avoidance ◽  
Electric Fish ◽  
Electric Organ ◽  
The Other ◽  
Weakly Electric Fish ◽  
Dissolved Oxygen Concentration ◽  
Shuttle Box ◽  
Freshwater Habitats ◽  
Electric Organ Discharges ◽  
Weakly Electric

AbstractAnthropogenic environmental degradation has led to an increase in the frequency and prevalence of aquatic hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen concentration, DO), which may affect habitat quality for water-breathing fishes. The weakly electric black ghost knifefish, Apteronotus albifrons, is typically found in well-oxygenated freshwater habitats in South America. Using a shuttle-box design, we exposed juvenile A. albifrons to a stepwise decline in DO from normoxia (> 95% air saturation) to extreme hypoxia (10% air saturation) in one compartment and chronic normoxia in the other. On average, A. albifrons actively avoided the hypoxic compartment below 22% air saturation. Hypoxia avoidance was correlated with upregulated swimming activity. Following avoidance, fish regularly ventured back briefly into deep hypoxia. Hypoxia did not affect the frequency of their electric organ discharges. Our results show that A. albifrons is able to sense hypoxia at non-lethal levels and uses active avoidance to mitigate its adverse effects.

scholarly journals Electric signal synchronization as a behavioural strategy to generate social attention in small groups of mormyrid weakly electric fish and a mobile fish robot

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Worm ◽  
Tim Landgraf ◽  
Gerhard von der Emde
Keyword(s):  
Small Groups ◽  
Electric Fish ◽  
Social Attention ◽  
Weakly Electric Fish ◽  
Electric Signal ◽  
Fish Robot ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Signal Synchronization ◽  
Weakly Electric ◽  
Attention Hypothesis

AbstractAfrican weakly electric fish communicate at night by constantly emitting and perceiving brief electrical signals (electric organ discharges, EOD) at variable inter-discharge intervals (IDI). While the waveform of single EODs contains information about the sender’s identity, the variable IDI patterns convey information about its current motivational and behavioural state. Pairs of fish can synchronize their EODs to each other via echo responses, and we have previously formulated a ‘social attention hypothesis’ stating that fish use echo responses to address specific individuals and establish brief dyadic communication frameworks within a group. Here, we employed a mobile fish robot to investigate the behaviour of small groups of up to four Mormyrus rume and characterized the social situations during which synchronizations occurred. An EOD-emitting robot reliably evoked social following behaviour, which was strongest in smaller groups and declined with increasing group size. We did not find significant differences in motor behaviour of M. rume with either an interactive playback (echo response) or a random control playback by the robot. Still, the robot reliably elicited mutual synchronizations with other fish. Synchronizations mostly occurred during relatively close social interactions, usually when the fish that initiated synchronization approached either the robot or another fish from a distance. The results support our social attention hypothesis and suggest that electric signal synchronization might facilitate the exchange of social information during a wide range of social behaviours from aggressive territorial displays to shoaling and even cooperative hunting in some mormyrids.

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