Many organisms can generate or detect electrical discharges. One fish that has taken “electrogenesis” to a whole other level is the electric eel, Electrophorus electricus (which is not actually a true eel, but that is another story).
Electric eel. Photo by Flickr user Joachim S. Müller
The electric eel is native to, and occurs only in, the Amazon and Orinoco rivers basins of South America and has specialized “myogenic” muscle cells throughout most of the body that can generate about 100 volts per foot of eel and because electric eels can grow to over 6’ long that is quite a defensive trick to ward off predators!
Other fishes use electrical discharges to:
– detect and stun prey
– for navigation
– to attract mates
– in some cases to engage in what has been interpreted as “play”
In fact, as a new paper in Science describes, electrogeneration appears to have evolved at least six times independently in fishes and involves a complex of about 30 similar genes.
Elephantfish (another electrogenic species of fish). Photo by Flickr user Nemo’s Great Uncle.
Thumbnail: Electric eel. Photo by Flickr user Sibylle Stofer