Electric Fishes

The ability of certain fishes to produce severe numbing blows, electric shocks as we recognize them today, has been known since ancient times. The discovery of an electric sense, however, is fairly recent. This book provides a comprehensive ethological and ecological account of all known electric fishes, and examines the use of electric discharges and the unique electric sense in certain species of fish. Using a common thread of the role of electric signals in one- or two-way interactions of these fishes with their environment, Peter Moller has compiled this work. The contents include a history of the role electric fishes have played in the discovery of bioelectricity and electroreception, coverage of the animals' use of electric discharges as predatory weapons and as signals in social communication and orientation. The book discusses the important aspects of reproduction and development of electric fishes, and deals with sources of behavioural plasticity due to captivity and hormonal change. This book should find a place in the shelves of all fish biologists, including postgraduates and professionals and should be of considerable use and interest to animal behaviourists and physiologists alike. This book should be of interest to fish biologists, physiologists and animal behaviourists.

History. Behaviour of strongly discharging electric fish. Behaviour of weakly discharging electric fish. The elctric sensorimotor system - generating and sensing electric discharges. Taxonomy, zoogeography, general ecology. Appendix: a selection of major reviews on electric fishes.