Elephant-nose fish do some dance to assist them ‘see’ in 3D

Pulses of electrical energy give some fish the flexibility to establish objects or prey, and slightly shimmy helps them take a number of snapshots that give their underwater world depth

By Jake Buehler

Elephant-nose fish must twist, tempo and shimmy to precisely “see” the shapes of objects when decoding wobbles in electrical fields.

Peters’s elephant-nose fish (Gnathonemus petersii) is native to the rivers of west and central Africa. It and its shut kinfolk are “weakly electric” fish that may produce a small electrical discharge too feeble to stun prey. However sensors of their pores and skin can use the ensuing electrical area round their our bodies to detect prey and underwater obstacles.

Electroreception …