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fish2eod: finite element modelling of active electric sensing
Aaron R Shifman1, Mary Upshall1, John E Lewis1
1Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada.
The Journal of Experimental Biology
|November 11, 2025
Summary
This study introduces fish2eod, a new model for understanding how electric fish sense their environment. It simulates electrosensory inputs during natural behaviors, unlike previous models focused only on stationary fish.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Animal Behavior
- Computational Biology
Background:
- Understanding animal behavior requires analyzing sensory inputs.
- Electric fish use self-generated electric fields for sensing, with receptors covering their bodies.
- Behavior actively influences sensory information in electric fish.
Purpose of the Study:
- To model electrosensory inputs during natural behaviors in weakly electric fish.
- To address limitations of previous models that focused on stationary fish.
- To provide a framework for studying social interactions and complex environments.
Main Methods:
- Developed fish2eod, an open-source finite-element-based modeling framework.
- Simulated electrosensory dynamics during various behaviors.
- Incorporated complex environments and social interactions.
Main Results:
- The fish2eod framework successfully models electrosensory inputs in freely swimming fish.
- Demonstrated how swimming and body pose shape sensory information.
- Enabled simulation of natural behaviors, including social interactions.
Conclusions:
- fish2eod provides a novel tool for studying the neural basis of behavior in electric fish.
- The model captures the dynamic nature of electrosensory processing during natural behaviors.
- Facilitates research on electric sense in ecologically relevant contexts.
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