The electric eel (Latin Electrophorus electricus) belongs to the Gymnotiformes order. It is not related to common eels and is the most dangerous of all fish that can generate electricity.
Its high-voltage discharge can shock a person. An adult produces a current with a voltage of up to 800 V. Negative charge is in its tail. The voltage of the generated current is directly proportional to its length.
One eel can generate enough electricity to light a house. Electrical organs are 10 thousand thin plates. They were formed from the muscles that have undergone changes. abdominal cavity. Most of weight falls on these organs.
Behavior
Electric eel is among the most large fish living on the territory South America... He prefers fresh and warm bodies of water with a small current. It can often be seen in the Amazon or Orinoco. He can settle in river valleys flooded by water and in the swampy lowlands of tropical forests.
Living in silted reservoirs with a small amount of oxygen in the water, the fish are forced to regularly rise to the surface in order to breathe a little. The ability to breathe oxygen helps her stay on land for several hours, provided her body and mouth are moist.
The eel leads a solitary life. He spends most of his time at the bottom of a river or lake, hiding among algae and snags. Climbs up periodically to replenish stocks fresh air... He has no lungs. The oral cavity is abundantly covered with special vessels that are capable of absorbing oxygen.
The fish is forced to rise to the surface every 10 minutes for a portion of oxygen. She has very poor eyesight and does not use it at all for orientation. The anal fin extends from the belly to the tail. With it, she can swim both forward and backward.
Hiding among the plants, the eel periodically scans the area around it with electricity.
Thus, he can find even a motionless victim. Its skin is abundantly equipped with receptors that can pick up small impulses of electrical current generated by other animals.
Hidden in ambush, the hunter waits for his prey, and then paralyzes it with a discharge. Having weak teeth, he completely swallows his prey.
Acne communicate with each other with weak discharges. The dominant male produces loud and frequent signals, while the females use shorter and longer ones.
Reproduction
Biologists have found no signs of gender differences in electric eels. Sometimes adults leave the permanent places residence. No one was able to observe the spawning site of representatives of this species, and to this day this information remains unknown. It is assumed that they use electrical discharges to recognize the sex of the partner and his sexual maturity.
Apparently eels spawn, although no one has discovered this yet. After a short period of time, adults return back, surrounded by young offspring.
The length of juveniles reaches 10 cm. They are colored light brown with a marble pattern. At first, young eels are under the auspices of older comrades, although they themselves are already very aggressive and do not like finding any other fish nearby.
Description
The length of adults reaches 2.5 m, and the weight is 45 kg. The blunt head is wide and large. The nostrils are located above upper lip... Small emerald green eyes are found at the top of the head.
The long rather large body has a serpentine shape. It lacks scales and electrical receptors are scattered all over it in the form of small holes. The anal fin extends from the belly to the tail. The electric organ is located on either side of the tail. Top part the body is olive-colored, and the abdomen is lighter in color.
Electric eel's lifespan natural conditions unknown. In captivity, some individuals live up to 18-20 years.
Tell about electric fish Oh. How much current do they generate?
Electric catfish.
Electric eel.
Electric Stingray.
V. Kumushkin (Petrozavodsk).
Among electric fish, the dominance belongs to the electric eel, which lives in tributaries of the Amazon and other rivers in South America. Adult eels reach two and a half meters. The electrical organs - the transformed muscles - are located on the sides of the eel, extending along the spine for 80 percent of the entire length of the fish. This is a kind of battery, the plus of which is in the front of the body, and the minus in the back. A living battery generates a voltage of about 350, and in the largest individuals - up to 650 volts. With an instantaneous current strength of up to 1-2 amperes, such a discharge is capable of knocking a person off his feet. With the help of electrical discharges, the eel defends itself from enemies and gets food for itself.
In the rivers Equatorial Africa there is another fish - electric catfish. Its dimensions are smaller - from 60 to 100 cm. Special glands that generate electricity make up about 25 percent of the total weight of the fish. Electricity reaches a voltage of 360 volts. There are known cases of electric shock in people bathing in the river and accidentally stepping on such a catfish. If an electric catfish falls on a fishing rod, then the angler can receive a very noticeable electric shock, which has passed along the wet fishing line and the rod to his hand.
However, skillfully directed electrical discharges can be used in medicinal purposes... It is known that the electric catfish occupied an honorable place in the arsenal. traditional medicine among the ancient Egyptians.
Electric rays are also capable of generating very significant electrical energy. There are more than 30 types of them. These sedentary bottom dwellers, ranging in size from 15 to 180 cm, are distributed mainly in coastal zone tropical and subtropical waters of all oceans. Hidden at the bottom, sometimes half immersed in sand or silt, they paralyze their prey (other fish) with a discharge of current, the voltage of which is different types stingrays are from 8 to 220 volts. A stingray can also inflict a significant electric shock on a person who accidentally comes into contact with it.
In addition to electric charges fish of great strength are capable of producing a low-voltage, weak current. Thanks to the rhythmic discharges of a weak current with a frequency of 1 to 2000 pulses per second, they are perfectly oriented even in muddy water and signal to each other about the emerging danger. Such are the mormiruses and gymnarchs who live in the murky waters of rivers, lakes and swamps in Africa.
In general, as experimental studies have shown, almost all fish, both marine and freshwater, are capable of emitting very weak electrical discharges, which can be captured only with the help of special devices. These discharges play important role in the behavioral reactions of fish, especially those that constantly keep in large schools.
The electric eel is the only member of the electrophore genus. A fish with a snake body is the very Electrophorus electricus. This fish lives in South America, preferring the predominantly murky waters of the Amazon and Orinoco. Electric eel is found in stagnant, shallow water with low oxygen content.
Electric eel description
Electric eel has a pretty big sizes- the average body length is 2-2.5 meters, and some individuals reach 3 meters.
Electric eels weigh about 40 kilograms. The shape of the body is serpentine and the body is slightly compressed on the sides. The head is flat.
It is noteworthy that the electric eel has no scales at all. The pectoral and caudal fins of the eel are very well developed, with their help the fish swims well and can move in different directions. The color is camouflage gray-brown, it helps when hunting. The head color may differ from the general color and have an orange tint.
Unique Feature of Electric Eel
The name emphasizes the uniqueness of this fish, it is capable of generating electricity. The body of an electric eel is covered with special cells that are connected by nerve channels.
At the very beginning of the body, the electrical discharge is weak, but towards the tail it becomes stronger. The current of the electric eel is deadly not only for small fish, but also for large opponents.
The power of the electrical impulse of this fish is on average 350 V. For humans, such an electric shock is not fatal, but it can deafen or cause loss of consciousness, so you should stay away from the electric eel.
The electric eel has a unique vascular tissue in its mouth, so it sometimes has to rise to the surface to take a breath of air. It can stay on the surface for more than 10 minutes, while no other species of fish stays in the air for more than 30 seconds.
Electric eel hunting
This predator attacks suddenly, it does not give in even to large prey. If there is any living creature near the eel, it shakes its body, as a result of which a charge is formed with a power of 300-350 V, which instantly kills the prey that is nearby, as a rule, it is a small fish.
When the paralyzed prey sinks to the bottom, the electric eel slowly approaches it and swallows it whole. After eating food, he rests for a few minutes, digesting it.
Breeding electric eels
Very little is known about the reproduction of these fish. Scientists still don't fully know life cycle electric eel. It is known that at a certain time eels swim away to hard-to-reach places, and they appear together with the grown-up offspring.
Some scientists believe that male electric eels make a nest from saliva, and the female lays eggs in this nest. About 17 thousand small fish emerge from one clutch. Individuals born first, most often eat the rest of the eggs from the clutch.
Science does not know how the fertilization process proceeds, where the young develop and what the babies eat. But it is clear that an electric eel with a body length of 10-12 centimeters is considered an adult.
Interesting facts about electric eels
The eyesight of these fish is extremely weak, it is believed that with age they are generally unable to see, and they are active mainly at night. They receive information about nearby obstacles using low-frequency wave locators;
Electric eel has nothing in common with common eel. The electric eel is a member of the ray finned fish class;
The electric eel has short teeth, so it does not chew food, but swallows it completely;
Predatory eels eat not only small fish, but also amphibians, birds, crustaceans and small mammals;
With the help of electric charges, individuals communicate with each other;
If you take a juvenile electric eel, you may feel a slight tingling sensation;
For the first time, information about these fish appeared in the 17th century. Then they were considered unknown creatures Antilles Sea. But 100 years later, Alexander von Humboldt made a description of the electric eel.
The life of electric eels in the aquarium
Alas, the proximity of other eels and other fish species will not work, since the neighbors are unlikely to be able to tolerate the electrical discharges emitted by the eel. When an eel just swims, it emits 10-15 V discharges, which act as electric navigation, but when a victim approaches it, the signal strength becomes much stronger.
There is no need for aeration in the home of an electric eel. The water temperature should not drop below 25 degrees, the acidity is maintained within 7-8, and the hardness is 11-13 degrees. Electric eels do not tolerate frequent water changes. It is believed that these fish create their own microclimate, accumulating antimicrobial substances that prevent them from getting sick, and if the water is changed too often, ulcers begin to develop on the surface of the eel's body.
A sandy substrate is created at the bottom of the reservoir, it is also allowed to use some pebbles. The amount of vegetation in an electric eel tank should be moderate, and there should be driftwood, rocks and caves.
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People learned about electric fish for a long time: back in Ancient egypt Electric stingray was used to treat epilepsy, the anatomy of the electric eel gave Alessandro Volta the idea of his famous batteries, and Michael Faraday, the "father of electricity," used the same eel as scientific equipment. Modern biologists know what to expect from such fish (an almost two-meter eel can generate 600 volts), in addition, it is more or less known what kind of genes form such an unusual trait - this summer a group of geneticists from the University of Wisconsin in Madison (USA) published a work with the full sequence of the electric eel genome. The purpose of "electrical abilities" is also clear: they are needed for hunting, for orientation in space and for protection from other predators. Only one thing remained unknown - how exactly the fish use their electroshock, what kind of strategy they use.
First, a little about the main character.
Into the mysterious and muddy waters There are many dangers lurking in the Amazon. One of them is the electric eel (lat. Electrophorus electricus) — sole representative detachment of electric eels. It is found in northeastern South America and occurs in small tributaries of the middle and lower reaches powerful river Amazon.
The average length of an adult electric eel is a meter and a half, although sometimes there are three-meter specimens. Such a fish weighs about 40 kg. Her body is elongated and slightly flattened from the sides. Actually, this eel is not very similar to a fish: there are no scales, only the caudal and pectoral fins, and on top of that, it breathes atmospheric air.
The fact is that the tributaries, where the electric eel live, are too shallow and muddy, and the water in them is practically devoid of oxygen. Therefore, nature has awarded the animal with unique vascular tissues in oral cavity, with the help of which the eel assimilates oxygen directly from the outside air. True, for this he has to rise to the surface every 15 minutes. But if an eel suddenly finds itself out of water, it can live for several hours, provided that its body and mouth are not dry.
Electric charcoal is olive brown in color, which allows it to go unnoticed for potential prey. Only the throat and the lower part of the head are bright orange, but this circumstance is unlikely to help the unfortunate victims of the electric eel. As soon as he shudders with all his slippery body, a discharge is formed, with a voltage of up to 650V (mainly 300-350V), which instantly kills all the small fish nearby. The prey falls to the bottom, and the predator picks it up, swallows it whole and smears it nearby to rest a little.
Electric eel has special organs, consisting of numerous electrical plates - modified muscle cells, between the membranes of which a potential difference is formed. Organs occupy two thirds of the body weight of this fish.
However, an electric eel can generate discharges with lower voltages - up to 10 volts. Since he has poor eyesight, he uses them as radar to navigate and search for prey.
Electric eels can be huge size, reaching 2.5 meters in length and 20 kilograms in weight. They inhabit the rivers of South America, such as the Amazon and Orinoco. There they feed on fish, amphibians, birds and even small mammals.
Because electric eel metabolizes oxygen directly from atmospheric air, he has to very often rise to the surface of the water. He should do this at least once every fifteen minutes, but this usually happens more often.
To date, few cases of death are known after an encounter with an electric eel. However, multiple electrical shocks can lead to respiratory or heart failure, which can lead to drowning, even in shallow water.
His entire body is covered with special organs, which consist of special cells. These cells are connected in series with each other using nerve channels. In the front part of the body "plus", in the back "minus". Weak electricity is generated at the very beginning and, passing sequentially from organ to organ, it gains strength to strike as efficiently as possible.
The electric eel itself believes that it is endowed with reliable protection, so he is in no hurry to surrender to even a larger enemy. There were times when eels did not give way even to crocodiles, and people should avoid meeting them altogether. Of course, the discharge is unlikely to kill an adult, but the sensations from it will be more than unpleasant. In addition, there is a risk of loss of consciousness, and if you are in the water, you can easily drown.
The electric eel is very aggressive, it attacks immediately and is not going to warn anyone about its intentions. The safe distance from a meter-long eel is at least three meters - this should be enough to avoid a dangerous current.
In addition to the main organs that generate electricity, the eel also has one more, with the help of which it scouts the environment. This kind of locator emits low-frequency waves, which, returning, notify their owner about the obstacles ahead or the presence of suitable living creatures.
Zoologist Kenneth Catania from Vanderbilt University (USA), observing electric eels that lived in a specially equipped aquarium, noticed that fish can drain their battery with three different ways... The first is low-voltage pulses intended for orientation on the ground, the second is a sequence of two-three high-voltage pulses lasting several milliseconds, and finally, the third method is a relatively long salvo of high-voltage and high-frequency discharges.
When an eel attacks, it sends out many volts at a high frequency (method number three) to the prey. Three to four milliseconds of such processing is enough to immobilize the victim - that is, we can say that the eel uses remote electric shock. Moreover, its frequency is much higher than artificial devices: for example, the remote shocker Taizer gives 19 impulses per second, while the eel - as much as 400. Having paralyzed the victim, he must, without wasting time, quickly grab it, otherwise the prey will come to its senses and float away.
In an article in Science, Kenneth Catania writes that the "live stun gun" acts in the same way as an artificial analogue, causing severe involuntary muscle contraction. The mechanism of action was determined in a kind of experiment, when a fish with a destroyed spinal cord was placed in an aquarium with an eel; they were separated from each other by an electrically permeable barrier. The fish could not control the muscles, but they contracted themselves in response to electrical impulses from the outside. (The eel was provoked to discharge by throwing worms to it as food.) If the nerve poison curare was also injected into a fish with a destroyed spinal cord, then the electricity from the eel had no effect on it. That is, the target of electrical discharges was precisely the motor neurons that control the muscles.
However, all this happens when the eel has already determined its prey. And if the prey is hidden? You won't find it by the movement of the water. In addition, the eel itself hunts at night, and at the same time cannot boast of good eyesight. To find prey, he uses discharges of the second kind: short trains of two to three high-voltage pulses. Such a discharge mimics the signal of motor neurons, prompting all the muscles of a potential victim to contract. The eel, as it were, orders it to reveal itself: a muscle spasm passes through the body of the victim, it begins to twitch, and the eel catches the vibrations of the water - and understands where the prey is hidden. In a similar experiment with a fish with a destroyed spinal cord, it was separated from the eel by an electrically impermeable barrier, but the eel could feel the waves of water from it. Simultaneously, the fish was connected to a stimulant, so that its muscles contracted at the will of the experimenter. It turned out that if an eel emitted short "detection pulses" and at the same time the fish was forced to twitch, then the eel attacked it. If the fish did not respond in any way, then the eel, of course, did not react to it in any way - it simply did not know where it was.
Electric eels (Electrophorus electricus) are the most dangerous of all naturally occurring electric fish. If we take into account the human sacrifice, then they are ahead of even the piranhas. These creatures can deliver powerful, repetitive electrical shocks that result in heart or respiratory failure. So man is better off staying away from these amazing and dangerous creatures nature. Therefore, it is not recommended to keep them in home aquariums. This is a very dangerous fish!
Electric eel: description
The electric eel looks very much like a snake. He has the same slippery skin, a long cylindrical body and a flattened head with a wide square mouth. Fish has no dorsal fin, a long anal fin helps her to swim perfectly.
V natural environment electric eels can grow up to three meters in length and weigh forty kilograms. In an aquarium, fish of this species do not exceed one and a half meters in length. Females are noticeably larger than males.
Above, the color of the eel is dark green or grayish. The belly of an electric fish has a yellowish or orange tint. Young eels are olive brown with yellow spots.
In the front are all vital important organs, which occupy only 20% of the entire body, the rest is a solid electrical organ, which consists of thousands of elements that reproduce electricity. This organ develops immediately after birth. If you touch a two-centimeter fry with your hand, then you can already feel a slight tingling sensation. When the baby grows to 40 mm, then the power will increase greatly.
Electrical organs
The positive charge of the eel is in the front of the body, negative, respectively, in the back. In addition, the fish has an additional electrical organ that acts as a locator. It is three electrical organs that distinguish this creature from other animals. They are connected to each other, this feature contributes to the fact that even the smallest discharge of an electric eel is powerful, since the charge is added together. As a result, he becomes so strong that he can lead to the death of the one who encounters him.
Thanks to the electric organs, the eel finds its prey like a radar. Apart from this, they are also used to communicate with each other. Especially during the breeding season, when the male emits loud, frequent signals, and the female responds with longer ones.
When an eel is in a calm position and resting, electricity does not come from it, but when it leads an active lifestyle, an electric field is formed around it.
Habitats in natural environment
Electric eels are often found in Guiana, but mainly in their natural environment in the South American region in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. Amazing creatures love warm waters and prefer fresh muddy waters. The best places for electric fish, these are bays, flat bottoms, swamps and floodplains.
Lifestyle
Electric acne to this day remains not fully understood. For example, the duration of their life in wildlife has not been installed. At aquarium keeping the female can live from 10 to 22 years, the male is able to live under the same conditions for 10 to 15 years.
As stated earlier, hallmark blackheads are electrical organs. In addition, they have one more amazing feature- they breathe air. This is necessary for them, since the respiratory mechanism of electric giants is very complex and is designed in such a way that fish need to regularly swim to the surface of the reservoir and breathe air. Due to this feature, eels can be outside the reservoir for several hours.
Impaired fish similar to giant snakes, cannot boast, and are active mostly at night.
Electric eels are carnivorous; they cannot be called vegetarians for sure. Their diet includes fish, small birds, amphibians. Sometimes these monsters of the ponds can take a bite small mammals... So they can be safely classified as predators.
Reproduction
Amazing details about these unusual creatures are not all listed yet. Electric acne reproduces very in an interesting way... The male uses his saliva to build a nest in which the female lays her eggs. It's amazing that from just one such masonry, about seventeen thousand small electric eels are born.
Newborn babies immediately eat the eggs that their mother lays after her firstborn. Electric eel babies stay close to their parent until they develop orientation organs.
What to catch an electric eel with?
Eel, although electric, is still considered a fish, which means that it can be caught, like any other, by going fishing. But everything is not so simple - these creatures are deadly, so anglers are not eager to have such a catch, despite the fact that eel meat is considered a delicacy.
In areas where electric eels are found in water bodies, locals came up with an easy way to catch these dangerous fish... If you ask what to catch eels with using the method invented by the aborigines, the answer will be very unusual - they catch them on cows! The thing is that cows are needed in order to take on the first powerful discharges electricity. Fishermen noticed that cows, unlike all other living things, very easily endure electric shocks from snake-like fish, so they simply drive livestock into a river with eels and wait until the cows stop mooing and rushing about in the water.
The calmness of the herd is a signal that it is time to drive them ashore and use ordinary nets to catch eels from the river, which at that time become completely safe. After all, these monsters cannot emit current for a long time, each subsequent discharge is weaker than the previous one. It will take time for the fish to regain their power. This is such an unconventional fishing, but the catch is even very unusual!
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