The nature of electrosensing in the fish.

An evaluative review of the electrosensing literature was pursued with the intention of determining the nature of the electrosensing mechanism and its sensitivity. The biological data base, although weak, was useful in development of a mathematical model and in analyses of the sense mechanisms and their functions. During the analyses, we suggest a working hypothesis on the nature of the sense mechanism. We also collapse the various sensor coding schemes that have been proposed into one scheme. The function of the mathematical model of the sensor that was developed was explored with the use of a computer. The fishes' function at the system level was also considered and possible mechanisms defined.