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Fig. 1. The electric organ of larval fish. Photomicrographs of coronal sections of
12 mm-long fish impregnated with silver at the abdominal region (A) and the
middle region (B) of the fish body. As shown in A, in the abdominal region,
the electric organ consists of pairs of tubes on each side of the body
midline. A nerve is also evident, cut in cross section, lying at the dorsal
edge between the lateral and medial electrocytes on each side (arrows). Thin
branches innervating the caudal faces of the electrocytes emerge from these
nerves (not shown here), indicating that they correspond to the anterior
electromotor nerves observed in the adult. After the emergence of the anal
fin, the electric organ consists of two sets of four tubes on each side of the
midline (B). Note the dorsal–ventral decrease in the electrocytes'
cross-sectional area. (C) Microphotograph of a semi-thin section of a 12
mm-long fish showing parts of two electrocytes. The striated appearance of the
cytoplasm of one of them indicates its myogenic origin (black and white arrows
point to the clear and dense phases of the stria, respectively). The
periodicity of this striation is similar to that of skeletal muscle (inset),
although it is much fainter.
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