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Interactive electrical behaviour in mormyrid weakly electric fish: Jamming avoidance response or social interaction

Tim Landgraf, Moritz Maxeiner, Mathis Hocke, Nils Weimar, Emily Wong, Ingolf Rick, Gerhard von der Emde – 2025

Weakly electric fish emit electric organ discharges (EODs) for both active electrolocation and electrocommunication. In African mormyrids, pulse-type EODs are produced at highly variable inter-discharge intervals (IDIs), forming sequences that can convey contextual and behavioural information to conspecifics. Neighbouring fish frequently engage in time locked interactive behaviours, such as fixed-latency echo responses and EOD synchronisation. These behaviours have been proposed to function either as a jamming avoidance response (JAR), preventing simultaneous discharges and interference with electrolocation, or as a form of social signal. To test these hypotheses, we analysed interactions between pairs of Mormyrus rume proboscirostris, quantifying EOD synchronisations, echo events, and instances of jamming. Our results show that jamming is rare in this species. We found no correlation between jamming frequency and echoing behaviour, nor evidence that synchronisation and echo events are direct responses to recent jams. Instead, these interactive behaviours were associated with specific movement patterns and social contexts. Synchronisations were mainly initiated by stationary hovering individuals, while echo responses were more frequent in smaller fish actively following a social partner, suggesting a role in leader-follower dynamics. Pairs with more frequent echoing also exhibited reduced inter-individual distances, indicating that interactive electrical signalling promotes social cohesion. Rather than mitigating jamming, interactive electrical behaviours in mormyrids likely serve as communicative strategies to maintain group coherence or allocate social attention. These findings highlight the role of electrocommunication in structuring social interactions. Investigating the rules of these behaviours could eventually decipher which specific IDI patterns signal social intent and help to understand the underlying mechanisms of electrocommunication

Titel
Interactive electrical behaviour in mormyrid weakly electric fish: Jamming avoidance response or social interaction
Verfasser
Tim Landgraf, Moritz Maxeiner, Mathis Hocke, Nils Weimar, Emily Wong, Ingolf Rick, Gerhard von der Emde
Verlag
bioRxiv - The preprint server for Biology
Schlagwörter
active electrolocation, echo response, electrocommunication, interactive signalling, jamming avoidance response, signal interference, signal synchronisation, social interaction, weakly electric fish
Datum
2025-02-25
Kennung
https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.24.639824
Sprache
eng
Art
Text
Größe oder Länge
21 pages
Rechte
Open Access