Electrosensory Contrast Signals for Interacting Weakly Electric Fish.

Active sensory systems have evolved to properly encode natural stimuli including those created by conspecifics, yet little is known about the properties of such stimuli. We consider the electrosensory signal at the skin of a fixed weakly electric fish in the presence of a swimming conspecific. The dipole recordings are obtained in parallel with video tracking of the position of the animals.

The neuroethology of electrocommunication: how signal background influences sensory encoding and behaviour in Apteronotus leptorhynchus.

Weakly-electric fish are a well-established model system for neuroethological studies on communication and aggression. Sensory encoding of their electric communication signals, as well as behavioural responses to these signals, have been investigated in great detail under laboratory conditions. In the wave-type brown ghost knifefish, Apteronotus leptorhynchus, transient increases in the frequency of the generated electric field, called chirps, are particularly well-studied, since they can be readily evoked by stimulating a fish with artificial signals mimicking conspecifics.

Coding conspecific identity and motion in the electric sense.

Interactions among animals can result in complex sensory signals containing a variety of socially relevant information, including the number, identity, and relative motion of conspecifics. How the spatiotemporal properties of such evolving naturalistic signals are encoded is a key question in sensory neuroscience. Here, we present results from experiments and modeling that address this issue in the context of the electric sense, which combines the spatial aspects of vision and touch, with the temporal aspects of audition.

The effect of difference frequency on electrocommunication: chirp production and encoding in a species of weakly electric fish, Apteronotus leptorhynchus.

The brown ghost knifefish, Apteronotus leptorhynchus, is a model wave-type gymnotiform used extensively in neuroethological studies. As all weakly electric fish, they produce an electric field (electric organ discharge, EOD) and can detect electric signals in their environments using electroreceptors. During social interactions, A.

Electrocommunication signals in free swimming brown ghost knifefish, Apteronotus leptorhynchus.

Brown ghost knifefish, Apteronotus leptorhynchus, are a species of weakly electric fish that produce a continuous electric organ discharge (EOD) that is used in navigation, prey capture and communication. Stereotyped modulations of EOD frequency and amplitude are common in social situations and are thought to serve as communication signals. Of these modulations, the most commonly studied is the chirp.