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Electric eel skeleton, with the long vertebral column at top, the row of bony rays below. Electric eels have long, stout bodies, being somewhat cylindrical at the front but more flattened towards the tail end. E. electricus can reach 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in length, and 20 kg (44 lb) in weight. The mouth is at the front of the snout, and opens upwards.
Electric eels use electricity in multiple ways. Low voltages are used to sense the surrounding environment. High voltages are used to detect prey and, separately, stun them, at which point the electric eel applies a suction-feeding bite. [12] Anatomy of an electric eel's electric organs. Sachs' organ is associated with electrolocation. Inside ...
The electric eel is the largest of the gymnotiform fishes, growing up to more than 2 m (6.6 ft) length. Species of Gymnotus range from about 10–100 cm (0.3–3.3 ft) in total length. [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
Carl Sachs was born in Neisse (now in Poland). He was sent to Latin America by the physiologist Emil du Bois-Reymond, to study the electric eel (Electrophorus) in the same Llanos region where Humboldt had made his observations; [1] [2] [3] he took with him a galvanometer and electrodes to measure the fish's electric organ discharge, and used rubber gloves ("Kautschuck-Handschuhen") to enable ...
The term "eel" is also used for some other eel-shaped fish, such as electric eels (genus Electrophorus), swamp eels (order Synbranchiformes), and deep-sea spiny eels (family Notacanthidae). However, these other clades , with the exception of deep-sea spiny eels, whose order Notacanthiformes is the sister clade to true eels, evolved their eel ...
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]
Electrophorus varii, or Vari’s electric eel, is a species of electric eel found in South America. [1] Taxonomy
Both are used to locate prey; stronger electric discharges are used in a few groups of fishes (most famously the electric eel, which is not actually an eel but a knifefish) to stun prey. The capabilities are found almost exclusively in aquatic or amphibious animals, since water is a much better conductor of electricity than air.