Electro-physiology (1896-98) Electro-physiology electrophysiolog02bied Year: 1896-98 XI ELECTRICAL FISHES 397 The Electrical Cat-fish (Malapterurus electricus), the liaasch of the Arabs, which inhabits many of the rivers of Central Africa, is an exception to the other electrical fishes, inasmuch as its powerful batteries are not due to the transformation of striated skeletal muscle-fibres, but are localised in the skin, which is in conse- quence transformed into a thick, transparent, speckled rind, which loosely invests the greater part of the trunk, and causes the animal to look bulky and sh
Electro-physiology (1896-98) Electro-physiology electrophysiolog02bied Year: 1896-98 XI ELECTRICAL FISHES 397 The Electrical Cat-fish (Malapterurus electricus), the liaasch of the Arabs, which inhabits many of the rivers of Central Africa, is an exception to the other electrical fishes, inasmuch as its powerful batteries are not due to the transformation of striated skeletal muscle-fibres, but are localised in the skin, which is in conse- quence transformed into a thick, transparent, speckled rind, which loosely invests the greater part of the trunk, and causes the animal to look bulky and shapeless. This peculiarity expresses itself internally in parallel folds of the skin, during sideway ir ntHtsiti^- fc§tJtfit FIG. L'.JS. —Particle of skin of I'roin above ; jnagidfied. (G. Fritsch.) !''iu. 257.— through trunk of Mn{i<iiti I'IU-HZ. HI = muscles; 0 = organs. (G. Fritsch.) movements of the body. In cross-section it is evident that this rind invests the body proper like a sack, and is separated from the muscular surface by an excessively loose tissue (the so- called integument of Eudolph), so that it is easily drawn off (Fig. 257). Between the epidermis proper and the internal, tendinous boundary of the rind there is in the fresh state a transparent, gelatinous mass of a clear yellow-gray colour, which is unequal in consistency, but entirely absent in a few places only. In the older specimens two longitudinal partition walls running dorsally and ventrally in the middle line divide the brawn-like intermediate mass symmetrically into two hemi-
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