Heiko Bleher looks at the Mormyridae family of fish that locates and communicates by using its own electricity. There are more than valid species of elephantnoses in the Mormyridae family and they belong to the Osteoglossiformes order. Their distribution is confined to the African continent, but I've found from the lower Nile to South Africa in almost every type of water. They are mostly night active and best known for the species with elongate body forms or tube snouts β and for the organ they use to generate electric fields to help them navigate, detect prey and communicate in a process known as electro-location.
The South American Gymnotiformes, including the Black ghost knifefish, also have electric organs that operate in a very similar way. Some knifefishes even have a similar head form, arealso night active and live in very similar habitats. However, they are not thought to have shared any recent ancestry.
Each one builds up an electrical field around the fish and is sensed by cutaneous skin electro-receptor organs distributed over most of the body surface. Nearby objects distort the field and cause local alteration in current flow in the electro-receptors closest to the object. When the fish is resting discharge frequency is low, but this rapidly increases to between 80 and pulses per minute when disturbed.
However, the strength of electricity created, about one volt, is not enough to seriously shock a human. Mormyrus rume is an exception, giving off 25 volts. Its discharge can be felt by touching the caudal peduncle of the fish when taken out of the water.
Mainly because of their often cryptic habitat and because they are night active, there are still many undescribed and unknown species.
