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First published online February 12, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 800-814 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.000638

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Post-natal development of the electromotor system in a pulse gymnotid electric fish

Ana Carolina Pereira¹, Alejo Rodríguez-Cattaneo¹, María E. Castelló^1,2 and Angel A. Caputi^1,*

¹ Departmento de Neurociencias Integrativas y Computacionales, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Unidad Asociada de la Facultad de Ciencias, Montevideo, Uruguay
² Departmento de Histología y Embriología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: angel{at}iibce.edu.uy)

Accepted 4 January 2007

Some fish emit electric fields generated by the coordinated activation of electric organs. Such discharges are used for exploring the environment and for communication. This article deals with the development of the electric organ and its discharge in Gymnotus, a pulse genus in which brief discharges are separated by regular silent intervals. It is focused on the anatomo-functional study of fish sized between 10 and 300 mm from the species of Gymnotus, in which electrogenic mechanisms are best known. It was shown that: (1) electroreception and electromotor control is present from early larval stages; (2) there is a single electric organ from larval to adult stages; (3) pacemaker rhythmicity becomes similar to that of the adult when the body length becomes greater than 45 mm and (4) there is a consistent developmental profile of the electric organ discharge in which waveform components are added according to a programmed sequence. The analysis of these data allowed us to identify three main periods in post-natal development of electrogenesis: (1) before fish reach 55 mm in length, when maturation of neural structures is the main factor determining a characteristic sequence of changes observed in the discharge timing and waveform; (2) between 55 and 100 mm in length, when peripheral maturation of the effector cells and changes in post-effector mechanisms due to the fish's growth determine minor changes in waveform and the increase in amplitude of the discharge and (3) beyond 100 mm in length, when homothetic growth of the fish body explains the continuous increase in electric power of the discharge.

Key words: electric fish, electric organs, development, Gymnotus

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This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. E. Castello, A. Rodriguez-Cattaneo, P. A. Aguilera, L. Iribarne, A. C. Pereira, and A. A. Caputi Waveform generation in the weakly electric fish Gymnotus coropinae (Hoedeman): the electric organ and the electric organ discharge J. Exp. Biol., May 1, 2009; 212(9): 1351 - 1364. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]