African Fish Courtship 'Electrifying'

The study is the first to compare electrical and behavioral displays in breeding and nonbreeding Brienomyrus brachyistius,
a type of mormyrid electric fish, which emit weak electric fields from
a batterylike organ in their tails to sense their surroundings and
communicate their species, sex and social status with other fish. It is
also the first study to successfully sort signals in electric fish
based on sex.

The research, which is the cover story in the July 1 issue of the
Journal of Experimental Biology, is authored by Carl D. Hopkins,
Cornell professor of neurobiology and behavior, and Ryan Wong '05, who
conducted the study as an undergraduate for his senior honors thesis
and is now a Ph.D. student at the University of Texas in Austin.

"Our study provides strong evidence that the 'rasp' [a certain
electric signal] is a male advertisement call during courtship in this
species," said Wong, noting that the males also serenade females with
lower frequency "creaks."