Electronic Resource
Springer
Behavioral ecology and sociobiology
7 (1980), S. 1-13
ISSN:
1432-0762
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Summary 1. Field studies in the Ivindo River district of Gabon, West Africa, yielded information on the ecology and the electric discharge characteristics of 23 species of mormyrid fishes. The electric organ discharge (EOD) acts as an electric signature that defines the properties of an electric communication and electrolocation channel. Correlations between the properties of this signature and the ecological and social conditions of the fish in their natural environment suggest that signature properties are under natural selection, much as are social communication displays. 2. EOD duration is reduced in those species that aggregate in dense schools. Those with long-duration discharges are widely spaced in stream habitats. EOD waveforms are usually species-specific. EODs are highly divergent within some genera, but convergence to the same EOD pattern is also found among schooling species. Species producing monophasic EODs inhabit rivers rather than small streams. A river habitat is evenly represented by fish species with EODs at all frequencies in the available spectrum. Stream habitats are represented mainly by species with shortduration pulses that emphasize the high-frequency end of the available spectrum.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00302513
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