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Species differences in electric organs of mormyrids: Substrates for species‐typical electric organ discharge waveforms
Author(s) -
Bass Andrew H.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.902440305
Subject(s) - electric organ , electric fish , biology , waveform , polarity (international relations) , electroreception , neuroscience , fish <actinopterygii> , cell , voltage , receptor , electrical engineering , genetics , torpedo , acetylcholine receptor , sensory system , fishery , engineering
The organization of electric organs is described for the mormyrid fishes from Africa. The electric organ's spike‐generating cells or electrocytes are wafer‐shaped cells with a special geometry that relates to the number of phases and polarity of their pulsatile electric organ discharge (EOD) waveform. Six “families” of electrocytes are recognized on the basis of cell geometry. Each family includes species with EODs of similar polarity and phase number. Despite such similarities, there are still dramatic species differences in EOD waveforms for a given family that may further depend on specialized features of the electrocyte's excitable membranes. It is each species' particular electrocyte “profile” that must underlie the development of species‐specific and hormone‐dependent sex differences in the EOD waveforms.