An electric fish is any fish that can generate electric fields. Most electric fish are also electroreceptive, meaning that they can sense electric fields. The only exception is the stargazer family (Uranoscopidae). Electric fish, although a small minority, include both oceanic and freshwater species, and both cartilaginous and bony fishes.
Electric fish produce their electrical fields from an electric organ. This is made up of electrocytes, modified muscle or nerve cells, specialized for producing strong electric fields, used to locate prey, for defence against predators, and for signalling, such as in courtship. Electric organ discharges are two types, pulse and wave, and vary both by species and by function.
Electric fish have evolved many specialised behaviours. The predatory African sharptooth catfish eavesdrops on its weakly electric mormyrid prey to locate it when hunting, driving the prey fish to develop electric signals that are harder to detect. Bluntnose knifefishes produce an electric discharge pattern similar to the electrolocation pattern of the dangerous electric eel, probably a form of Batesian mimicry to dissuade predators. Glass knifefish that are using similar frequencies move their frequencies up or down in a jamming avoidance response; African knifefish have convergently evolved a nearly identical mechanism.
All fish, indeed all vertebrates, use electrical signals in their nerves and muscles. Cartilaginous fishes and some other basal groups use passive electrolocation with sensors that detect electric fields; the platypus and echidna have separately evolved this ability. The knifefishes and elephantfishes actively electrolocate, generating weak electric fields to find prey. Finally, fish in several groups have the ability to deliver electric shocks powerful enough to stun their prey or repel predators. Among these, only the stargazers, a group of marine bony fish, do not also use electrolocation.
In vertebrates, electroreception is an ancestral trait, meaning that it was present in their last common ancestor.
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La création d'espaces ouverts dynamiques et vivants s'appuyant sur l'écologie itérative entre l'être humain et son environnement guidera la démarche de ce projet de paysage.
La création d'espaces ouverts dynamiques et vivants s'appuyant sur l'écologie itérative entre l'être humain et son environnement guidera la démarche de ce projet de paysage.
La création d'espaces ouverts dynamiques et vivants s'appuyant sur l'écologie itérative entre l'être humain et son environnement guidera la démarche de ce projet de paysage.
Electroreception and electrogenesis are the closely related biological abilities to perceive electrical stimuli and to generate electric fields. Both are used to locate prey; stronger electric discharges are used in a few groups of fishes (most famously the electric eel, which is not actually an eel but a knifefish) to stun prey. The capabilities are found almost exclusively in aquatic or amphibious animals, since water is a much better conductor of electricity than air.
The electric rays are a group of rays, flattened cartilaginous fish with enlarged pectoral fins, composing the order Torpediniformes tɔr'pEdᵻnᵻfɔrmiːz. They are known for being capable of producing an electric discharge, ranging from 8 to 220 volts, depending on species, used to stun prey and for defense. There are 69 species in four families. Perhaps the best known members are those of the genus Torpedo. The torpedo undersea weapon is named after it.
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