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Updated: Mar 24, 2026

Long-term Behavioral Tracking of Freely Swimming Weakly Electric Fish

Long-term Behavioral Tracking of Freely Swimming Weakly Electric Fish

Published on: March 6, 2014

Active sensing associated with spatial learning reveals memory-based attention in an electric fish.

James J Jun¹, André Longtin², Leonard Maler³

¹Department of Physics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; and Centre for Neural Dynamics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada jamesjun@gmail.com.

Journal of Neurophysiology

|March 11, 2016

Summary

Weakly electric fish (Gymnotus sp) use electric organ discharge (EOD) for active sensing. Learning shifted their EOD sensing behavior to focus more intensely on food locations, demonstrating attention and spatial memory.

Keywords:

active sensing attention landmark-based learning spatial learning weakly electric fish

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Area of Science:

Neuroethology
Animal Behavior
Sensory Biology

Background:

Active sensing behaviors provide insights into animal attention and learning.
Weakly electric fish, Gymnotus sp, use electric organ discharge (EOD) for active electrolocation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how spatial learning affects active sensing behaviors in Gymnotus sp.
To understand the role of EOD patterns in cue-based navigation and attention.

Main Methods:

Monitoring freely behaving gymnotid fish in a dark maze.
Extracting fish trajectories, EOD pulse patterns, and rates during a learning task.
Analyzing active sensing behaviors like sampling density, E-scans, and B-scans.

Main Results:

Fish learned to find food faster with shorter, more stereotyped trajectories post-training.
Active sensing behaviors intensified at the food location after learning.
During probe trials, learned fish searched the expected food location and increased sampling near landmarks.

Conclusions:

Active sensing behaviors are a manifestation of attention and crucial for spatial learning in electric fish.
Gymnotus sp utilize spatial memory and path integration to navigate and focus attention.
Learned behaviors demonstrate a shift in sensory attention from landmarks to the food reward.