Why is electrical communication among freshwater fish limited to short distances?

Electrical communication among freshwater fish is limited to short distances—typically around 1 metre (3.3 feet)—primarily due to the high electrical resistance of fresh water combined with the low voltages produced by the fish's specialized bioelectric organs.1

These fish, such as the mormyrids of Africa and the gymnotids of South America, inhabit environments where vision is often impossible, such as murky rivers. To navigate and communicate, they generate a self-produced electric field using rapid trains of electrical discharges. Because the signal strength dissipates quickly in the resistive freshwater medium, these animals are restricted to short-range social interactions and object detection.213