Epilepsy as a Unifying Principle in Electrofishing Theory: A Proposal

Abstract

Abstract Fisheries scientists have long studied the behavior of fish in electrified water. However, the science of electrofishing (the use of electricity to capture fish) evolved independently of other fields of science whose knowledge could have explained the behaviors of fish to electric shock. Theories to explain the behavior of organisms in electric fields developed out of two paradigms: Classical stimulus–response (S–R) theory, and “local action” of electrical energy on nerves and muscle fibers. Stimulus–response theories dominated in the late 19th Century; although they were abandoned by the early 20th Century by animal behaviorists they persisted in work with fish. An alternative theory, the “local action” paradigm, arose soon after 1900. Attributing galvanotropisms to the action of electricity on local nerves and muscles fibers, the local action theory remains in one form or another the main explanation for galvanotropisms today. However, neurologists have recognized for more than 100 years that e...