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Gymnotus electricus. Electrophorus electricus is the best-known species of electric eel. It is a South American electric fish. Until the discovery of two additional species in 2019, the genus was classified as the monotypic, with this species the only one in the genus. [2] Despite the name, it is not an eel, but rather a knifefish. [3]
The other species, E. varii, is also a fish predator; it preys especially on Callichthyidae (armoured catfishes) and Cichlidae (cichlids). [27] Map of the northern part of South America showing distribution of specimens of the three species of Electrophorus: E. electricus (1, red); E. voltai (2, blue); E. varii (3, yellow). [13]
An electric fish is any fish that can generate electric fields, whether to sense things around them, for defence, or to stun prey. Most fish able to produce shocks are also electroreceptive, meaning that they can sense electric fields. The only exception is the stargazer family (Uranoscopidae). Electric fish, although a small minority of all ...
Electric catfish or Malapteruridae is a family of catfishes (order Siluriformes). This family includes two genera, Malapterurus and Paradoxoglanis, with 21 species. [1] Several species of this family have the ability to generate electricity, delivering a shock of up to 350 volts from its electric organ. [2]
Description. It closely resembles E. electricus but differs in skull morphology, including having a depressed skull and a wide head. It has a maximum voltage of 860 volts, making it not only the strongest bioelectricity generator of the three electric eel species, but also of any animal. [3] Males get larger than females by about 35 cm (14 in).
Malapterurus electricus is a thickset fish with six mouth barbels and a single fin on its back, just anterior to the rounded tail fin. It is brownish or grayish, irregularly spotted with black, and attains a length and weight of about 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) and 23 kilograms (51 lb) M. electricus is capable of generating and controlling the discharge of up to 450 volts of electricity.
Type species. Gymnotus carapo. Linnaeus, 1758. Despite the name, the Electric Eel is a type of knifefish. The Gymnotiformes / dʒɪmˈnɒtɪfɔːrmiːz / are an order of teleost bony fishes commonly known as Neotropical knifefish or South American knifefish. They have long bodies and swim using undulations of their elongated anal fin.
History of bioelectricity. The history of bioelectricity dates back to ancient Egypt, where the shocks delivered by the electric catfish were used medicinally. In the 18th century, the abilities of the torpedo ray and the electric eel were investigated by scientists including Hugh Williamson and John Walsh.