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      Spooky Interaction at a Distance in Cave and Surface Dwelling Electric Fishes

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          Abstract

          Glass knifefish ( Eigenmannia) are a group of weakly electric fishes found throughout the Amazon basin. Their electric organ discharges (EODs) are energetically costly adaptations used in social communication and for localizing conspecifics and other objects including prey at night and in turbid water. Interestingly, a troglobitic population of blind cavefish Eigenmannia vicentespelea survives in complete darkness in a cave system in central Brazil. We examined the effects of troglobitic conditions, which includes a complete loss of visual cues and potentially reduced food sources, by comparing the behavior and movement of freely behaving cavefish to a nearby epigean (surface) population ( Eigenmannia trilineata). We found that the strengths of electric discharges in cavefish were greater than in surface fish, which may result from increased reliance on electrosensory perception, larger size, and sufficient food resources. Surface fish were recorded while feeding at night and did not show evidence of territoriality, whereas cavefish appeared to maintain territories. Surprisingly, we routinely found both surface and cavefish with sustained differences in EOD frequencies that were below 10 Hz despite being within close proximity of about 50 cm. A half century of analysis of electrosocial interactions in laboratory tanks suggest that these small differences in EOD frequencies should have triggered the “jamming avoidance response,” a behavior in which fish change their EOD frequencies to increase the difference between individuals. Pairs of fish also showed significant interactions between EOD frequencies and relative movements at large distances, over 1.5 m, and at high differences in frequencies, often >50 Hz. These interactions are likely “envelope” responses in which fish alter their EOD frequency in relation to higher order features, specifically changes in the depth of modulation, of electrosocial signals.

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          Most cited references61

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          Regressive evolution in Astyanax cavefish.

          A diverse group of animals, including members of most major phyla, have adapted to life in the perpetual darkness of caves. These animals are united by the convergence of two regressive phenotypes, loss of eyes and pigmentation. The mechanisms of regressive evolution are poorly understood. The teleost Astyanax mexicanus is of special significance in studies of regressive evolution in cave animals. This species includes an ancestral surface dwelling form and many con-specific cave-dwelling forms, some of which have evolved their recessive phenotypes independently. Recent advances in Astyanax development and genetics have provided new information about how eyes and pigment are lost during cavefish evolution; namely, they have revealed some of the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in trait modification, the number and identity of the underlying genes and mutations, the molecular basis of parallel evolution, and the evolutionary forces driving adaptation to the cave environment.
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            Electric and magnetic field detection in elasmobranch fishes.

            J Kalmijn (1982)
            Sharks, skates, and rays receive electrical information about the positions of their prey, the drift of ocean currents, and their magnetic compass headings. At sea, dogfish and blue sharks were observed to execute apparent feeding responses to dipole electric fields designed to mimic prey. In training experiments, stingrays showed the ability to orient relative to uniform electric fields similar to those produced by ocean currents. Voltage gradients of only 5 nanovolts per centimeter would elicit either behavior.
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              ON THE DEFINITIONS AND FUNCTIONS OF DOMINANCE AND TERRITORIALITY

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Front Integr Neurosci
                Front Integr Neurosci
                Front. Integr. Neurosci.
                Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience
                Frontiers Media S.A.
                1662-5145
                22 October 2020
                2020
                : 14
                : 561524
                Affiliations
                [1] 1Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology , Newark, NJ, United States
                [2] 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD, United States
                [3] 3Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, Universidade Federal de São Carlos , São Carlos, Brazil
                Author notes

                Edited by: Michael R. Markham, University of Oklahoma, United States

                Reviewed by: Thomas Preuss, Hunter College (CUNY), United States; Elias Manjarrez, Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico

                *Correspondence: Eric S. Fortune eric.fortune@ 123456njit.edu
                Article
                10.3389/fnint.2020.561524
                7642693
                33192352
                e94ac998-92c2-4020-a493-d35b8b5abe02
                Copyright © 2020 Fortune, Andanar, Madhav, Jayakumar, Cowan, Bichuette and Soares.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

                History
                : 12 May 2020
                : 07 September 2020
                Page count
                Figures: 5, Tables: 0, Equations: 0, References: 61, Pages: 13, Words: 8262
                Funding
                Funded by: National Science Foundation 10.13039/100000001
                Award ID: 1557858
                Award ID: 1557895
                Funded by: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico 10.13039/501100003593
                Award ID: 308557/2014-0
                Categories
                Neuroscience
                Original Research

                Neurosciences
                gymnotiformes,weakly electric fish,troglobitic,epigean,envelope,cavefish,jamming avoidance response,dicect

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