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Electrogenesis in Two African Upside-Down Catfishes, Synodontis sorex and S. batensoda (Mochokidae, Siluriformes)

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Abstract

Weak electric discharges generated by the two species of the African upside-down catfishes, Synodontis sorex and S. batensoda are described. In both species two types of discharges were recorded in the course of aggressive-defense interactions in the pairs of individuals: short simple biphasic and longer (duration >20 ms) discharges with more complex waveform. The discharges of the latter type seem to result from a temporal summation (with various latency) of simple discharges. It is suggested that formation of the long quasimonopolar discharges enhances the coincidence of frequency spectrum of the catfish discharges with maximum sensitivity range of their ampullary electroreceptors.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to A.A. Darkov, coordinator of the expedition, for help in organization of field investigations, to D.E. Elyashev for elaboration of software, to Fecadu Teffera, B.A. Levin, S.E. Cherenkov for aid in material collection, A.Ya. Supin for useful notes on MS.

The material was collected within the scope of field investigations of the Joint Russian-Ethiopian Biological Expedition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow,, Russia

    A. A. Orlov, V. V. Baron & A. S. Golubtsov

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  1. A. A. Orlov
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  2. V. V. Baron
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  3. A. S. Golubtsov
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Correspondence to V. V. Baron.

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Conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Statement on the welfare of animals. All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Translated by N. Smirnov

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Orlov, A.A., Baron, V.V. & Golubtsov, A.S. Electrogenesis in Two African Upside-Down Catfishes, Synodontis sorex and S. batensoda (Mochokidae, Siluriformes). Dokl Biol Sci 487, 124–127 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0012496619040100

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0012496619040100

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