Brain Matters
Zap! More fish
Source: Science News
Better brains make one fish, two fish, into lots and lots of fish. After upgrading their ability to communicate using electrical signals, a group of African fish exploded into dozens of species. This may be the first study to show a link between central brain evolution and increasing species diversity, researchers report in the April 29 Science. "The brain structure triggered an explosion of signals and an explosion of species as a result," says Carl Hopkins, who studies neurobiology and animal behavior at Cornell University and was not involved in the new study. Among mormyrid fish, conversation is literally buzzing. Using specialized electricity-emitting organs in their tails, these African natives string together short shocks into a primitive analog to Morse code, says study coauthor Bruce Carlson, a neuroecologist at Washington University in St. Louis. Mormyrids can't discuss philosophy, but they can employ this rat-a-tat to send out some basic signals for instance, "I'm interested in mating with you."
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