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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 .
Active electrolocation is practised by two groups of weakly electric fish, the Gymnotiformes (knifefishes) and the Mormyridae (elephantfishes), and by Gymnarchus niloticus, the African knifefish. 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 ...
The main organ is the first electric organ to develop, followed by Sachs' organ and then Hunter's organ. All the electric organs are differentiated by the time the body reaches a length of 23 cm (9.1 in). Electric eels are able to produce electrical discharges when they are as small as 7 cm (2.8 in). [54]
Electric organ discharges are two types, pulse and wave, and vary both by species and by function. Electric fish have evolved many specialised behaviours. The predatory African sharptooth catfish eavesdrops on its weakly electric mormyrid prey to locate it when hunting, driving the prey fish to develop electric signals that are harder to detect.
Ampullae of Lorenzini (sg.: ampulla) are electroreceptors, sense organs able to detect electric fields. They form a network of mucus-filled pores in the skin of cartilaginous fish (sharks, rays, and chimaeras) and of basal bony fishes such as reedfish, [1] sturgeon, [2] and lungfish. [1]
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]
Electric eels, for example, have three pairs of abdominal organs containing electrolytes that can produce electricity: the main organ, the hunter's organ and the sach's organ. The EOD can be species specific and can even sometimes be unique to each individual. [28] Electric fish can also modify the frequency, amount, duration, silent periods ...
These fish possess electric organs that allow them to produce electric fields, which are usually weak. In most gymnotiforms, the electric organs are derived from muscle cells. However, adult apteronotids are one exception, as theirs are derived from nerve cells (spinal electromotor neurons).