Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Electric eel anatomy: first detail shows electric organs, made of stacks of electrocytes. Second detail shows an individual cell with ion channels and pumps through the cell membrane; A nerve cell's terminal buttons are releasing neurotransmitters to trigger electrical activity. Final detail shows coiled protein chains of an ion channel.
These organs occupy a large part of its body, and give the electric eel the ability to generate two types of electric organ discharges: low voltage and high voltage. These organs are made of electrocytes, lined up so a current of ions can flow through them and stacked so each one adds to a potential difference. [9]
To generate a high voltage, an electric eel stacks some 6,000 electrocytes in series (longitudinally) in its main organ; the organ contains some 35 such stacks in parallel, on each side of the body. [46] The ability to produce high-voltage, high-frequency pulses in addition enables the electric eel to electrolocate rapidly moving prey. [47]
The electric discharge pattern of bluntnose knifefishes is similar to the low voltage electrolocative discharge of the electric eel. This is thought to be a form of bluffing Batesian mimicry of the powerfully protected electric eel. [28] Fish that prey on electrolocating fish may "eavesdrop" [29] on the discharges of their prey to detect them.
You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work; to remix – to adapt the work; Under the following conditions: attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
This is hypothesized to be Batesian mimicry of the powerfully-protected electric eel. [20] Brachyhypopomus males produce a continuous electric "hum" to attract females; this consumes 11–22% of their total energy budget, whereas female electrocommunication consumes only 3%. Large males produced signals of larger amplitude, and these are ...
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
The primitive jawless fish have only a single testis located in the midline of the body, although even this forms from the fusion of paired structures in the embryo. [ 41 ] Under a tough membranous shell, the tunica albuginea , the testis of some teleost fish, contains very fine coiled tubes called seminiferous tubules .