Weakly electric fish are a subset of electric fish species that typically generate electric discharges under one volt (University of Virginia, n.d.). Both weakly and strongly electric fish have an electric organ in their tail composed of electrocytes that they can excite to cause electrical organ discharges (EODs), which they sense via electroreceptors embedded in their skin (University of Virginia, n.d.). Through this mechanism, weakly electric fish can electrolocate and electrocommunicate (Worm et al. 2018, 221). During electrocommunication, weakly electric fish encode information in their electrical discharges to transmit to each other information about species, age, gender, identity, and motivation (Zakon & Smith 2009, 611). Weakly electric fish species fall into two types: pulse-type fish which produce short, intermittent pulses of electricity and wave-type fish wich generate continuous A.C. electricity (University of Virginia, n.d.). This review aims to cover the last decade’s research into social electrocommunication in weakly electric fishes including: species recognition, jamming avoidance response, dominance, competition, and sexual dimorphism. Although there has been much research into the electrocommunication behaviours of weakly electric fish, it has by and large been observational research focused on proximate questions. As such, there is a lack of research into important ultimate questions concerning electrocommunication. Ultimate avenues of inquiry in future research may provide insight into why electrocommunication first developed, and why weakly electric fish species are confined to the South American and African continents (Moller 1995, 583). Studying the evolutionary and adaptive aspects of electrocommunication might be a critical step in elucidating important evolutionary relationships in freshwater fishes.
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