Electrical fishes

[Moontanman]

Fish that sense their environment with electricity are known from all over the world. Some like the mormyrids actually have a brain to body ratio bigger than humans. How does the electrical sense of these fish contribute to the size of their brains and are they capable of complex behaviors because of their brain size or is their brain size due to their complex sense organs and thereby allowing complex behaviors?

[Turtle]

I used to read encyclopedias for fun and years ago I ran across an article under the heading 'electro-_____'. It's been eons since I read it, and can't for the life of me remember the suffix of the term, but here's the upshot.

 

The effect is such that if you have fish in a tank, and you introduce electrodes on opposite sides and connect a small battery, the fish will align themselves parallel to a line between the electrodes by way of their swimming. That is to say, apparently they swim back and forth only in-line with the current flow through the water.

 

Got fish? :confused::

[Moontanman]

I used to read encyclopedias for fun and years ago I ran across an article under the heading 'electro-_____'. It's been eons since I read it, and can't for the life of me remember the suffix of the term, but here's the upshot.

 

The effect is such that if you have fish in a tank, and you introduce electrodes on opposite sides and connect a small battery, the fish will align themselves parallel to a line between the electrodes by way of their swimming. That is to say, apparently they swim back and forth only in-line with the current flow through the water.

 

Got fish? :confused::

 

I don't know the term either but the fish I am talking about do use bio-electricity to orientate themselves to each other in turbid or black water where visibility is zero. the also use electricity to "see" thier environment much the same way the cetaceans use sound to "see"