Electroreception is an ancient subdivision of the lateral line sensory system, found in all major vertebrate groups (though lost in frogs, amniotes and most ray-finned fishes). Electroreception is mediated by 'hair cells' in ampullary organs, distributed in fields flanking lines of mechanosensory hair cell-containing neuromasts that detect local water movement. Neuromasts, and afferent neurons ...

Electroreceptive bony fishes of Africa (the Mormyriformes) and South America (the Gymnotiformes) detect and communicate with conspecifics by their continuously discharging electric organs. Laboratory studies of members of each group are beginning to reveal the mechanisms of communicating with and finding mates, offering much scope for future studies of the behavioral ecology of electric fishes.

BACKGROUND Discovery of Eocene non-marine vertebrates, including crocodylians, turtles, bony fishes, and mammals in Canada's High Arctic was a critical paleontological contribution of the last century because it indicated that this region of the Arctic had been mild, temperate, and ice-free during the early - middle Eocene (∼53-50 Ma), despite being well above the Arctic Circle. To date, these ...

Acoustic signaling behaviors are widespread among bony vertebrates, which include the majority of living fishes and tetrapods. Developmental studies in sound-producing fishes and tetrapods indicate that central pattern generating networks dedicated to vocalization originate from the same caudal hindbrain rhombomere (rh) 8-spinal compartment. Together, the evidence suggests that vocalization and...

As a member of the most basal clade of extant ray-finned fishes (actinopterygians) and of one of the most basal clades of osteichthyans (bony fishes + tetrapods), Polypterus can provide insights into the ancestral anatomy of both ray-finned and lobe-finned fishes, including those that gave rise to tetrapods. The pectoral fin of Polypterus has been well described but, surprisingly, neither the b...

Ampullary organ electroreceptors excited by weak cathodal electric fields are used for hunting by both cartilaginous and non-teleost bony fishes. Despite similarities of neurophysiology and innervation, their embryonic origins remain controversial: bony fish ampullary organs are derived from lateral line placodes, whereas a neural crest origin has been proposed for cartilaginous fish electrorec...

The fishery of bony fishes has an economic important in southern part of Caspian Sea ,but there are few reports about the pathogens of them in this area .Eustrongylides excisus , a parasite (Nematoda: Dioctophymidae) can damage the muscles of bony fishes . So, consumers avoid to buy the infected fish. Hence , the parasite can cause economic loss.In order to determine the occurance and intensity...