Refuge Tracking in Weakly Electric Fish Across 54 Sensory Landscapes

Abstract

<p>This dataset contains raw behavioral tracking data from two species of weakly electric fish (<em>Apteronotus albifrons</em> and <em>Eigenmannia virescens</em>) performing a closed-loop refuge tracking task. The data captures the longitudinal position of the fish and the moving refuge across 54 unique sensory conditions, designed to modulate the signal-to-noise ratio (salience) of the environment.<br><br></p> <h2>Experimental Subjects</h2> <ul> <li> <p><strong>Total Subjects:</strong> 10 Individuals.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Species 1:</strong> <em>Apteronotus albifrons</em>.</p> <ul> <li> <p>N = 5 individuals.</p> </li> <li> <p>ID Labels: Ankara, Antalya, İstanbul, İzmir, Mersin</p> </li> </ul> </li> <li> <p><strong>Species 2:</strong> <em>Eigenmannia virescens</em>.</p> <ul> <li> <p>N = 5 individuals.</p> </li> <li> <p>ID Labels: Amasra, Ardahan, Erzincan, Gaziantep, Samsun</p> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p>Each file is a standard Comma-Separated Values (<code>.csv</code>) file representing a single experimental trial.</p> <h3>File Columns</h3> <p>The files do not contain headers. The column arrangement is as follows:</p> <div> <div> <div> <div> <table> <thead> <tr> <td><span>Column</span></td> <td><span>Variable</span></td> <td><span>Description</span></td> <td><span>Units</span></td> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td><span><strong>1</strong></span></td> <td><span><code>refuge_position</code></span></td> <td><span>The longitudinal position of the moving shuttle/refuge (<span><span><span><span><span>r</span><span>(</span><span>t</span><span>)</span></span></span></span></span>).</span></td> <td><span>pixels</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td><span><strong>2</strong></span></td> <td><span><code>fish_position</code></span></td> <td><span>The longitudinal position of the fish (<span><span><span><span><span>y</span><span>(</span><span>t</span><span>)</span></span></span></span></span>).</span></td> <td><span>pixels</span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> <div><span><span>Export to Sheets</span></span></div> </div> </div> </div> <p><strong>Note on Time:</strong> Time stamps are not included in the columns to save space. Data was recorded at a fixed sampling rate. <strong>Sampling Rate:</strong> 25 Hz (frames per second).<br><br></p> <h2>Experimental Conditions (The 54 Conditions)</h2> <p>The dataset covers a full factorial design spanning 54 unique sensory landscapes (<span><span><span><span><span>3</span><span>×</span></span><span><span>3</span><span>×</span></span><span><span>3</span><span>×</span></span><span><span>2</span><span>=</span></span><span><span>54</span></span></span></span></span>).</p> <h3>Variables:</h3> <ol> <li> <p><strong>Illumination (3 Levels):</strong></p> <ul> <li> <p><code>Light</code>: ~300–500 lux (High visual salience)</p> </li> <li> <p><code>Dim</code>: ~20–50 lux</p> </li> <li> <p><code>Dark</code>: 0 lux (IR illumination only; No visual salience)</p> </li> </ul> </li> <li> <p><strong>Conductivity (3 Levels):</strong></p> <ul> <li> <p><code>Low</code>: <50 <span><span><span><span><span>μ</span></span></span></span></span>S/cm (High electrosensory salience)</p> </li> <li> <p><code>Medium</code>: ~300 <span><span><span><span><span>μ</span></span></span></span></span>S/cm</p> </li> <li> <p><code>High</code>: ~700 <span><span><span><span><span>μ</span></span></span></span></span>S/cm (Low electrosensory salience/Jamming)</p> </li> </ul> </li> <li> <p><strong>Refuge Length (3 Levels):</strong></p> <ul> <li> <p>7 cm</p> </li> <li> <p>14 cm</p> </li> <li> <p>21 cm</p> </li> </ul> </li> <li> <p><strong>Structure (2 Levels):</strong></p> <ul> <li> <p><code>Windowed</code>: Refuge contains longitudinal slots (visual/electric edges).</p> </li> <li> <p><code>Non-windowed</code>: Solid tube.</p> </li> </ul> </li> </ol&gt