Figure 1 - Little
skate, Raja erinacea, (left) and a sketch of its ampullary
electroreceptor system (right). The electroreceptors are
extremely sensitive and respond to potential differences of <1
µVolt. The skate's own ventilatory movements create electric
fields as great as 10's of µVolts and these represent noise that
can interfere with detection of important electric fields (e.g.
those of prey) in the environment.
