A protein allows the baby whale fish to create super-rapid electrical pulses.
Introduction
It’s not easy for a fish to communicate under any circumstances, but even more difficult for those that are active at night. A West African fish known as the baby whale (Brienomyrus brachyistius) has found a shocking solution to the dilemma: It produces electrical pulses from a small organ at the base of its tail. The pulses allow it to communicate information about its species, sex, and intentions with other members of its species. They also help the baby whale find its way in the dark.
The pulses allow it to communicate information about its species, sex, and intentions with other members of its species.
The Strategy
The use of electricity in this way has two potential downsides, however. First, predators that can sense electric pulses could use the signals as a way to home in on a meal. Second, if too many fish are “talking electricity” at the same time, the messages could interfere with each other, as they do for humans in a crowded bar or party room. To counter these potential complications, the baby whale has evolved a way to create weak, extremely rapid electrical pulses that last just a few thousandths of a second. These brief blips (listen to them here) are harder for predators to sense than longer ones would be. They also reduce the likelihood that messages being sent will get lost in a bunch of buzz generated by other members of the species.
The secret to the quick blips lies in tiny tunnels called potassium channels that are found in nerve cells throughout the animal world. A , KCNA7, plays gatekeeper for such cells, intermittently allowing charge particles through to conduct nerve signals. The baby whale creates its super-speed electrical blips by opening and closing the potassium channels in the small, plate-like cells that make up its electric organ. The incredible speed with which it does so is thanks to a variation in its KCNA7, which has a negative charge that allows it to open and close the potassium channel much more quickly than is characteristic of other animals.
The baby whale fish, Brienomyrus brachyistius, uses a protein to create rapid electrical pulses it uses to communicate with other fish.
The Potential
Researchers have already noted the value of knowing about this mechanism for understanding and potentially correcting problems with brain and muscle function in humans that result from potassium channels that are too sensitive or not sensitive enough—including epilepsy, migraines and muscle disorders. The ability to fine-tune potassium channels on the scale of a fraction of a millisecond could provide valuable insights for efforts to develop extremely fast on-off switches for use in electronics or other non-biological innovations as well.
