====== Electric catfish self-immunity ======

>For thousands of years, starting with detailed accounts from ancient Egypt, the African electric catfish (//Malapteruridae//) has been renowned for its ability to hunt and to defend itself with powerful electric shocks. __Surprisingly, the degree to which electric catfish are protected against their own or external electric shocks, how specific any protection would be to the species-specific waveform and whether a discharging catfish has to actively prepare for the onset of its high-voltage discharges has never been analysed.__\\ \\ Source : [[https://jeb.biologists.org/content/224/4/jeb239855|Journal of Experimental Biology 2021 224]] {{:oa_padlock_grn.png?16&nolink|open access}}

Experiments conducted at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, in 2020, found that electric catfish appear to be immune to the effects of high intensity water-borne electric shocks - either from other members of their own species, or artificially generated.

How this is achieved is currently unknown.

>__Our findings rule out several protective mechanisms and demonstrate a highly efficient and versatile shielding whose nature is presently unclear.__