scholarly journals Ontogeny of the Electric Organs in the Electric Eel, Electrophorus electricus: Physiological, Histological, and Fine Structural Investigations

2014 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 288-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Horst O. Schwassmann ◽  
M. Ivaneide S. Assunção ◽  
Frank Kirschbaum
Author(s):  
Maisa L.S. Souza ◽  
Cristiano F. Freitas ◽  
Maria-Aparecida O. Domingos ◽  
Nilson Nunes-Tavares ◽  
Aida Hasson-Voloch ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Xu ◽  
Xiang Cui ◽  
Huiyuan Zhang

AbstractThe electric eel is a unique species that has evolved three electric organs. Since the 1950s, electric eels have generally been assumed to use these three organs to generate two forms of electric organ discharge (EOD): high-voltage EOD for predation and defense and low-voltage EOD for electrolocation and communication. However, why electric eels evolved three electric organs to generate two forms of EOD and how these three organs work together to generate these two forms of EOD have not been clear until now. Here, we present the third form of independent EOD of electric eels: middle-voltage EOD. We suggest that every form of EOD is generated by one electric organ independently and reveal the typical discharge order of the three electric organs. We also discuss hybrid EODs, which are combinations of these three independent EODs. This new finding indicates that the electric eel discharge behavior and physiology and the evolutionary purpose of the three electric organs are more complex than previously assumed. The purpose of the middle-voltage EOD still requires clarification.


1945 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. T. Cox ◽  
C. W. Coates ◽  
M. Vertner Brown

In the main electric organs of the electric eel, the cross-sectional area, the thickness of the electroplaxes, and certain electrical characteristics of the tissue vary widely between the anterior and posterior ends. However, a transverse layer of the organs one electroplax thick has certain characteristics which are roughly uniform along the organs. These are its volume, its maximum voltage, its maximum current per unit area, and the resistance of unit area at the peak of the discharge. Measurements of the voltage developed by a segment of the organs across different external resistances at different instants during the discharge are all rather well described by representing the segment, with the adjacent non-electric tissue, as a simple combination of E.M.F. and ohmic resistance. The internal resistance of the tissue varies during the discharge. Its E.M.F. appears to be practically constant, at least during the greater part of the discharge. Estimates made of the total electric energy show it about equal to the energy supplied by the decrease of phosphocreatine and the formation of lactic acid.


Nutrients ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 1823-1831 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Stasiuk ◽  
Alicja Janiszewska ◽  
Arkadiusz Kozubek

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