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Feeding Behavior
Electroreception
The ability to detect electric fields generated by other animals - a sixth sense used for hunting, navigation, and communication.
Trigger: Food Function: Prey detection in murky water or buried substrate
📖 Overview
Sharks, rays, catfish, some eels, and certain other fish possess electroreceptors that detect the tiny electric fields produced by every living animal. In sharks, these are the ampullae of Lorenzini on the snout. In elephantfish and knifefish, weak electric organs generate a field around the body - distortions in that field reveal prey and obstacles.
⚙️ How It Works
Passive electroreception (sharks): detects natural electric fields down to 5 nanovolts/cm. Active electroreception (elephantfish, knifefish): generates own field via specialized electric organ and reads distortions.
🧭 Evolutionary Advantage
Works in muddy water, at night, or when prey is buried - conditions where vision fails. Sharks hunting flatfish buried in sand rely almost entirely on electroreception.
🐟 Examples Across Species
Great white sharks and hammerheads use ampullae of Lorenzini. Electric eels use both hunting stun and passive detection. African elephantfish (Mormyridae) navigate turbid rivers using active electroreception. Platypus - the only mammal with electroreception.
✨ Fun Fact
Hammerhead sharks have wider snouts than other sharks specifically to spread more ampullae of Lorenzini - giving them a larger scanning surface for buried prey.