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Electric Organ MeSH Descriptor Data 2026


MeSH Heading
Electric Organ
Tree Number(s)
A13.332
Unique ID
D004557
RDF Unique Identifier
http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D004557
Annotation
animal only; IM
Scope Note
In about 250 species of electric fishes, modified muscle fibers forming disklike multinucleate plates arranged in stacks like batteries in series and embedded in a gelatinous matrix. A large torpedo ray may have half a million plates. Muscles in different parts of the body may be modified, i.e., the trunk and tail in the electric eel, the hyobranchial apparatus in the electric ray, and extrinsic eye muscles in the stargazers. Powerful electric organs emit pulses in brief bursts several times a second. They serve to stun prey and ward off predators. A large torpedo ray can produce of shock of more than 200 volts, capable of stunning a human. (Storer et al., General Zoology, 6th ed, p672)
Public MeSH Note
68
History Note
68(63)
Date Introduced
1968/01/01
Last Updated
1999/01/01
Electric Organ Preferred
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