title: Electric organ discharges and near-field spatiotemporal patterns of the electromotive force in a sympatric assemblage of Neotropical electric knifefish.
abstract: Descriptions of the head-to-tail electric organ discharge (ht-EOD) waveform - typically recorded with electrodes at a distance of approximately 1-2 body lengths from the center of the subject - have traditionally been used to characterize species diversity in gymnotiform electric fish. However, even taxa with relatively simple ht-EODs show spatiotemporally complex fields near the body surface that are determined by site-specific electrogenic properties of the electric organ and electric filtering properties of adjacent tissues and skin. In Brachyhypopomus, a pulse-discharging genus in the family Hypopomidae, the regional characteristics of the electric organ and the role that the complex 'near field' plays in communication and/or electrolocation are not well known. Here we describe, compare, and discuss the functional significance of diversity in the ht-EOD waveforms and near-field spatiotemporal patterns of the electromotive force (emf-EODs) among a species-rich sympatric community of Brachyhypopomus from the upper Amazon.
authors: Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, United States.
authors: Joseph C
authors: JC
authors: Waddell
authors: Department of Integrative and Computational Neurosciences, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo, Uruguay.
authors: Alejo
authors: A
authors: Rodríguez-Cattáneo
authors: Department of Integrative and Computational Neurosciences, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo, Uruguay. Electronic address: angel@iibce.edu.uy.
authors: Angel A
authors: AA
authors: Caputi
authors: Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, United States. Electronic address: crampton@ucf.edu.
authors: William G R
authors: WGR
authors: Crampton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004557:Electric Organ / Q000502:physiology*; D055590:Electromagnetic Phenomena; D023702:Gymnotiformes / Q000502:physiology*; D045483:Rivers; D014329:Tropical Climate
keywords: Amazon; Brachyhypopomus; Cloaking; Communication; Electric organ; Electrogenesis; Electroreception; Gymnotiform; Hypopomidae