1 Overview of electric fish. A fish is considered to be an electric fish if it can generate electric fields. In this case it is said to be electrogenic . If a fish has the ability to detect electric fields, it is said to be electroreceptive . Almost all electric fish are both electrogenic and electroreceptive.
Some electric fish live in the ocean and some live in freshwater rivers of South America and Africa.
1 provides a summary of the geographical distribution of electric fishes. In addition, the figure shows the location of the electric organ in each fish, and a sample of the waveform of the electric organ discharge. Certain fishes like sharks, skates, rays and catfish can detect electric fields, and are thus electroreceptive, but they don't generate an electric field so they are not classified as electric fish. The electric field of an electric fish is produced by a specialized structure called an electric organ . The electric organ is shown shaded in black in Fig.