fish2eod: finite element modelling of active electric sensing

Understanding the neural basis of animal behaviour requires a thorough description of the associated sensory inputs. This is especially important when behaviour actively shapes incoming sensory information. Weakly electric fish use perturbations in a self-generated electric field as a basis for an electric sense, and these field perturbations are encoded by electroreceptors distributed over their bodies. Thus, swimming movements and body pose shape not only the field but also the orientation of the receptor array. Previous modelling in this context has focused primarily on the so-called electric image in stationary fish and has not addressed how natural electrosensory inputs are generated in freely swimming fish. Here, we present fish2eod, an open-source finite-element-based modelling framework that describes the dynamics of electrosensory inputs during natural behaviours, including social interactions, in complex environments.