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Electric Organs, Fishes

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Part of the book series: Readings from the ((REN))

Abstract

Electric organs, found in six groups of fishes (Fig. 1), are structures specialized to generate electric fields in the animals’ external environment. In some the voltages are large enough to stun prey or repel predators. These, the strongly electric fishes, include the electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) from South America, the electric catfish (Malapterurus electricus) from Africa, the family of electric rays, the Torpedinidae, which are cosmopolitan and marine, and possibly the stargazers (Astroscopus sp.) of the Western Atlantic.

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Further reading

  • Bennett MVL (1971): Electric organs. In Fish Physiology Hoar WS, Randall DJ, eds. 5: 347-391.

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  • Bennett MVL (1971): Electroreceptors. In Fish Physiology, Hoar WS, Randall DJ, eds. 5: 493-574.

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  • Bullock TH, Heiligenberg (1985): Electroreception New York: Wiley and Sons.

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© 1988 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Bennett, M.V.L. (1988). Electric Organs, Fishes. In: Comparative Neuroscience and Neurobiology. Readings from the Encyclopedia of Neuroscience . Birkhäuser, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6776-3_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6776-3_13

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-8176-3394-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-6776-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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