Electroreceptors in Mormyrids
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
INTRODUCTION
The function of weakly electric organs that produce voltages too small to have any offensive or defensive value has puzzled many zoologists including Darwin (1859). A possible answer was provided by Lissman (1958) who demonstrated that some of the fish with these organs detect very small potential gradients and, more important, changes in the conductivity of the medium around them. He proposed that they possess an electrosensory system in which the electric organ provides the energy source. An electric field is set up around the animal, and variations in this field are detected by specialized receptors. The identity of these “electroreceptors” was not established, but it was suggested that they were the mormyromasts in the Mormyrids and the similar structures that occur in the Gymnotids and other groups. These cutaneous organs consist of an invagination of the skin which usually is enlarged at the bottom and has a narrow...
