Jump In Communication Skills Led To Species Explosion In Electric Fishes

[Moontanman]

Jump in Communication Skills Led to Species Explosion in Electric Fishes

 

In the top group of fishes, species in the genus Paramoryrops that has the complex signal-processing brain, discharges have changed quickly, resulting in dramatically different pulses among closely related species. In the bottom group of fishes, species in the genus Petrocephalus whose midbrain is more simply structured, all of the species have similar pulses. The difference arises because the top group has the anatomical features needed to exploit the signal space -- such as the anatomy needed to make different pulses and the sensory and analytical ability to perceive small differences in pulse shape. (Credit: Sebastien Lavoue, Carl Hopkins, John Sullivan and Matthew Arnegard)

 

ScienceDaily (Apr. 29, 2011) — Bruce Carlson stands next to a fish tank in his lab, holding a putty colored Radio Shack amplifier connected to two wires whose insulation has been stripped. At the bottom of the tank a nondescript little fish lurks in a sawed-off section of PVC pipe.

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110428143144.htm

[Moontanman]

An interesting side note about these fish is that their brains are larger, in proportion to their body size, than humans....