Educational Background
- PhD, Freie Universitat West-Berlin, Germany: Zoology, Chemistry, Physics
Peter Moller
Professor Emeritus
Dr. Peter Moller is a emeritus professor in the Psychology Department.
See Contact DetailsAreas of Research
Our research subjects are weakly electric fish (family: Mormyridae) that we obtain through the local aquarium trade and also breed ourselves.
- Using a traditional maze set-up we are exploring memory acquisition and consolidation with a focus on behavioral and molecular determinants, multisensory integration (electrosense, vision, lateral line, touch), and development.
- Environmental factors affecting locomotor behavior and electric organ discharge activity (e.g. endocrine disruptors, electromagnetic radiation)
- The role of vision in weakly electric fish
Specific Topics:
- Maze learning in Gnathonemus petersii: molecular bases of memory acquisition and consolidation & the role select electric organ discharge patterns play as spatial rehearsal tools
- Can electric organ discharge patterns serve in spatial memory transfer?
- Environmental effects on electric signaling in electric fish
- Development of spatial learning in Mormyrus rume (we breed this species and will test their locomotor and electric behaviors at various developmental stages)
- Development of contrast vision in Mormyrus rume
Selected Publications
Books
- Moller, P. (1995) Electric Fishes: History and behavior. Chapman and Hall, London.
- Ladich, F., Collin, S.P., Moller, P. and Kapoor, B.G. (eds.) (2006). Communication in Fishes. Science Publishers Inc., Enfield, NH, USA.
- LeCroy, D. and Moller, P. (eds.) (2000). Evolutionary perspectives on human reproductive behavior. Anls. NY Acad. Sci. 907, 1-233.
Articles
- Herfeld, S. and Moller. P. (1998). Effects of 17a-methyltestosterone on sexually dimorphic characters in the weakly discharging electric fish, Brienomyrus niger (Günther, 1866) (Mormyridae): electric organ discharge, ventral body wall indentation, and anal-fin ray bone expansion. Horm. Behav., 34, 303-319.
- Rojas, R. & Moller, P. (2002). Multisensory contributions to the shelter-seeking behavior of a mormyrid fish, Gnathonemus petersii Günther (Mormyridae, Teleostei): the role of vision, and the passive and active electrosenses. Brain Behav. Evol., 59:211-221.Moller, P., Schugardt, C. and Kirschbaum, F. (2004). Permanent and seasonal expression of sexual dimorphisms in a weakly electric fish, Mormyrus rume proboscirostris Boulenger 1898 (Mormyridae, Teleostei). Environ. Biol. Fishes 70, 175-184.
- Khait, V., Tahiraj, E., Seemungal, N., Breakstone, S. & Moller, P. (2009). Group cohesion in juvenile weakly electric fish (Mormyridae). J. Fish Biol. 75, 490-502.
- Moller, P., Schugardt, C., Dowling, B. & Kirschbaum, F. (2009). The expression of sexual dimorphisms in the weakly electric fish Mormyrus rume proboscirostris (Teleostei, Mormyridae) following exposure of larvae to 17α-methyl-dihydrotestosterone. Bull. Fish Biol. 11, 15-20.
- Walton, A. & Moller, P. (2010). Maze learning and recall in a weakly electric fish, Mormyrus rume proboscirostris, Boulenger 1898 (Mormyridae, Teleostei). Ethology 116, 904-919.
- Moller, P., Chowdhury, A., Fatova, K., Nuruzzaman, F. & Serrano, P. A. (2010). Spatial learning and PKMz expression in weakly electric fish, Gnathonemus petersii Günther and Mormyrus rume proboscirostris Boulenger (Mormyridae, Teleostei). Soc. Neurosci. (abstract 390.3)
- Chowdhury, A., Pestruyeva, A., Goldstein, A., Serrano, P. & Moller, P. (2011). Intact memory retrieval increases PKMz expression in weakly electric fish, Gnathonemus petersii Günther Soc. Neurosci. (abstract 837.2).