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Ch. 44 - Animal Sensory Systems

Chapter 43, Problem 10

Design experiments to test the hypothesis that electric eels are both electrogenic and electroreceptive.

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Welcome back. Let's look at our next question. It says, where is the electric shock of eels originate from? So, in eels capable of giving electric shocks electric eels. Um We're looking at where do they? What generates that electric shock? And our answer is actually pretty easy to guess here. If you were on a test and can't remember what it was when you look at choice. See it's an electric organ discharge. So if you had no idea whatsoever, looking at that electric organ would be a pretty good guess. And that is indeed the case. They do have three types of electric organs along the length of their body. These are made up of modified muscle cells called electro sites. Um They have used sodium pumps to generate electrical potential that allows them to discharge either a small or large electrical charge. Um actually a net negative charge at rest. Um And they can they're small. Electrical discharge can be used to electrically locate items and their large discharge to stun prey. So, let's just look through our other answer choices. Choice Ace has in nerve fibers. Um That might be a little likely to make us want to guess that because we think of nerve fibers in the way they carry messages using electrical signals. Um But these are the electric shock of eels comes from again, modified muscle cells, not nerve fibers. So choice A is not our answer choice B says in body scales. Um While those electoral organs do run the length of the ills body, but the discharge does not come from the scales. So that's not an answer. And then, finally, Choice, he says, in the dorsal fin, and that is not the location of those electric organs. They are along the length of the body. So again, where does electric shock come from? Choice? See electric organ discharge. See you in the next video.
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