Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Electric catfish or Malapteruridae is a family of catfishes (order Siluriformes). This family includes two genera , Malapterurus and Paradoxoglanis , with 21 species . [ 1 ] Several species of this family have the ability to generate electricity , delivering a shock of up to 350 volts from its electric organ . [ 2 ]
In biology, the electric organ is an organ that an electric fish uses to create an electric field. Electric organs are derived from modified muscle or in some cases nerve tissue, called electrocytes, and have evolved at least six times among the elasmobranchs and teleosts. These fish use their electric discharges for navigation, communication ...
Electric organs have evolved eight times, four of these being organs powerful enough to deliver an electric shock. Each such group is a clade. [7] [2] Most electric organs evolved from myogenic tissue (which forms muscle), however, one group of Gymnotiformes, the Apteronotidae, derived their electric organ from neurogenic tissue (which forms ...
An electric fish generates an electric field using an electric organ, modified from muscles in its tail. The field is called weak if it is only enough to detect prey, and strong if it is powerful enough to stun or kill. The field may be in brief pulses, as in the elephantfishes, or a continuous wave, as in the knifefishes.
History of bioelectricity. The history of bioelectricity dates back to ancient Egypt, where the shocks delivered by the electric catfish were used medicinally. In the 18th century, the abilities of the torpedo ray and the electric eel were investigated by scientists including Hugh Williamson and John Walsh.
Malapterurus electricus is a thickset fish with six mouth barbels and a single fin on its back, just anterior to the rounded tail fin. It is brownish or grayish, irregularly spotted with black, and attains a length and weight of about 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) and 23 kilograms (51 lb) M. electricus is capable of generating and controlling the discharge of up to 450 volts of electricity.
Some fish, such as catfish and sharks, have organs that detect weak electric potentials on the order of millivolts. [24] Other fish, like the South American electric fishes Gymnotiformes, can produce weak electric currents, which they use in navigation and social communication. In sharks, the ampullae of Lorenzini are electroreceptor organs ...
Malapterurus species are generally found among rocks or roots in turbid or black waters with low visibility. They favor sluggish or standing water. [ 3] M. electricus is a voracious piscivore. It uses its electrical discharges to stun prey. It is an opportunistic feeder and will feed on any readily available prey in the habitat.