A finite element method of electric image in weakly electric fish

Abstract

Weakly electric fish can generate an electric field with their electric organ (EO). Through 14,000 electroreceptors distributed on their skin, they can sense the electric field perturbation induced by a nearby prey or object. Many researchers have studied to reveal the mechanism of electrolocalization. Simulations are typically based on an analytical model which represents the EO as a set of charge, or a model based on finite-element method (FEM) in a 2-dimensional space. In this paper, we show a 3-dimensional FEM model to test the electric perturbation of various shapes of objects. Using this model, we show that a measure of caudal relative slope or tail-side half width at half maximum can estimate the lateral distance of a target object regardless of its size, shape and rostrocaudal position. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.