Abstract
Behavioral and electrophysiological experiments were conducted to examine whether frequency-modulated electrocommunication signals are detected by the ampullary electroreceptor system in Eigenmannia. First, frequency-modulated electric organ discharges were found to contain a low-frequency component that could be detected by the ampullary system. Second, fish were successfully trained to distinguish a frequency-modulated signal, which contained a low-frequency component as in natural signals, from an artificial signal in which the low-frequency component was eliminated but still modulated in frequency. Subsequently, the trained fish responded without reinforcement to a low-frequency sinusoidal signal which mimicked the low-frequency component in the frequency-modulated signal, suggesting that the fish used the ampullary system to detect frequency modulation. Finally, physiological recording from ampullary afferent fibers demonstrated that they respond to frequency-modulated signals as predicted from the signal's low-frequency component. Electrophysiological study also showed that detection of frequency modulation by the ampullary system is immune to the presence of other constant electric organ discharges.
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Accepted: 28 June 1998
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Naruse, M., Kawasaki, M. Possible involvement of the ampullary electroreceptor system in detection of frequency-modulated electrocommunication signals in Eigenmannia. J Comp Physiol A 183, 543–552 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s003590050280
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s003590050280