Some species of fish are known to create electric fields in the surrounding water. elephant fish (Gnatonimus Pietersi(also called tapirs) have receptors in their skin that allow them to communicate with others of their kind and explore their dark and often cloudy environment. The fish owes its name to the trunk-like end of its mouth, which it cannot move.
Researchers already suspect that elephant fishes may have developed characteristics during their evolution that allow them to collectively detect objects or other organisms from greater distances better than an individual animal can. To check this, the Americans first simulated the electric fields and pulses of the fish in a computer model. Research on the fish themselves (the fish were equipped with small receptors in an aquarium) has shown that their “electro-sensory systems” respond to their own signals as well as to those of other fish. They also responded to signals simulated in the laboratory.
Track enemies
Both methods showed that elephant fish in a (small but cohesive) group were up to three times better able to detect objects than fish alone. Their observed behavior also pointed in this direction. The researchers presented their findings Published on Wednesday In the scientific journal natureI think this feature may be especially important for detecting enemies faster.
Martin van Oijen, former curator of the fish collection at the Natural History Museum in Leiden, calls it “a very interesting study.” According to Van Oijen, little was known about the species of fish he had in the collection at Naturalis. “We already knew that they create an electric field around themselves. Their muddy environment means that their eyes don't get much use, and they're also very small. Their muscles develop current impulses, and receptors are in their skin, which transmit signals to the brain. It's almost impossible to imagine that they could They also get to see each other's eyes this way.
Not always an advantage
However, Van Oijen still has doubts. “Elephant fish live solitary, and the groups they move in are only small. I wonder whether having more electric fields close together would not have a disruptive effect. According to Van Oijen, the question is also whether the newly discovered property is always an advantage.” Or not. “To detect predators in time, yes.” But when detecting food, it is not useful for every fish to eat the same mosquito larva at the same time.
The researchers believe that their new knowledge about brain mechanisms could be useful in medical science or for developing artificial sensing technology, for example, for autonomous underwater vehicles.
