Kryptopterus vitreolus, known as the glass catfish, is a small species of Asian glass catfish found in a series of coastal river basins of peninsular Thailand. The glass catfish is known as an electroreceptive fish, but is not known to be electrogenic. Bioelectrogenesis means the purposeful generation of electricity, and is usually found in fish that possess electroreceptive abilities. We study the ability to generate electric fields, not with specific electrogenic organs like other species, but by means of the DC leaks of ions from body openings, such as the gills, anus, and mouth. We use a macro-vibrating electrode to measure the electric current around one fish and document the size of the electric field an individual glass catfish can produce. After recording the pattern of electrical currents surrounding glass catfish, electrodes are inserted in an agarose gel form of a glass catfish creating an “arti-fish.” The response of a school of glass catfish to the artificial electric fields of the arti-fish, produced by electrode arrays that mimic the fields previously measured, is recorded with tracking software. The quantitative data collected from the tracking software will be used for analysis of the behavioral responses of the school of glass catfish.
