Petrocephalus boboto from Yangambi, Congo River, Democratic Republic of Congo. Scale bar – 1 cm. Image credit: Lavoué S, Sullivan JP.
Petrocephalus are African weakly fishes of the family Mormyridae that produce pulses of only a few hundred millivolts from an organ made of modified muscle cells in front of their tail.
Receptor cells on the fishes’ skin detect distortions to the electric field created by nearby objects in the water. In this way, they are able to electrolocate through their complex aquatic environment at night. Their short electric pulses, too weak to be sensed by touch, are also used to communicate the sender’s species identity and gender to other electric fishesread more
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