Distinctive mechanisms underlie the emission of social electric signals of submission in .

South American weakly electric fish (order Gymnotiformes) rely on a highly conserved and relatively fixed electromotor circuit to produce species-specific electric organ discharges (EODs) and a variety of meaningful adaptive EOD modulations. The command for each EOD arises from a medullary pacemaker nucleus composed of electrotonically coupled intrinsic pacemaker and bulbospinal projecting relay cells. During agonistic encounters, signals submission by interrupting its EOD (offs) and emitting transient high-rate barrages of low-amplitude discharges (chirps).