The electric eel is a predator that has no enemies. Electric Eels: Like Fish Large electric eels do not use electricity to
Electric eels (Electrophorus electricus) are the most dangerous of all electric fish existing in nature. If we take into account human casualties, they are ahead of even piranhas. These creatures can deliver powerful, repeated electrical shocks that can cause cardiac or respiratory failure. So it is better for a person to stay away from these amazing and dangerous creatures of nature. Based on this, 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. It has the same slippery skin, a long cylindrical body and a flattened head with a wide, square mouth. The fish does not have a dorsal fin; its long anal fin helps it swim well.
IN 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.
The top color of the eel is dark green or grayish. The abdomen of an electric fish with yellowish or orange tint. Young eels are olive-brown in color with yellow spots.
In the front part there are all the vital 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, you can already feel a slight tingling sensation. When the baby grows to 40 mm, the power will increase greatly.
Electric organs
The positive charge of the eel is in the front part of the body, the negative charge, respectively, in the back. In addition, the fish has an additional electrical organ that plays the role of a locator. It is the three electrical organs that distinguish this creature from other animals. They are connected to each other, this feature ensures that even the smallest discharge of an electric eel is powerful, since the charge is summed up. Eventually, it becomes so powerful that it can cause the death of anyone who encounters it.
Thanks to its electrical 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 makes loud, frequent calls and the female responds with longer calls.
When the eel is in a calm position and resting, no electricity comes from it, but when it conducts active image life, then an electric field is formed around.
Natural habitats
Electric eels are often found in Guiana, but are mainly found in the wild in the South American region in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. Amazing creatures They love warm waters and prefer fresh, muddy bodies of water. Best places for electric fish these are bays, flats, swamps and floodplains.
Lifestyle
Electric eels remain incompletely studied to this day. For example, their life expectancy is wildlife never installed. At aquarium maintenance a female can live from 10 to 22 years, a male can live under the same conditions from 10 to 15 years.
As stated earlier, distinctive feature eels are electrical organs. In addition, they have another 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 inhale air. Thanks to this feature, eels can stay out of the reservoir for several hours.
The vision of fish is similar to giant snakes, they cannot boast, and are active mostly at night.
Electric eels are carnivorous and cannot be called vegetarians. Their diet includes fish, small birds, and amphibians. Sometimes these monsters of ponds can bite a small mammal. So they can safely be classified as predators.
Reproduction
Amazing details about these unusual creatures not all are listed yet. Electric eels multiply very in an interesting way. The male, using his saliva, builds a nest in which the female lays eggs. It’s simply amazing that from just one such clutch, about seventeen thousand small electric eels are born.
Newborn babies immediately eat the eggs that their mother lays after her firstborn. Electric eel babies remain close to their parent until they develop orientation organs.
What to use to catch an electric eel?
The eel, although electric, is still considered a fish, which means that it can be caught like any other when going fishing. But everything is not so simple - these creatures are deadly, so fishermen are not eager to have such a catch, despite the fact that eel meat is considered a delicacy.
In those areas where water bodies are found electric eels, local residents came up with a simple way to catch these dangerous fish. If you ask what you use to catch eels 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 to take on the first powerful discharges of electricity. Fishermen noticed that cows, unlike all other living creatures, very easily endure electric shocks from snake-like fish, so livestock is simply driven into a river with eels and wait until the cows stop mooing and thrashing about in the water.
The calmness of the herd is a signal that it is time to drive them ashore and catch eels from the river with ordinary nets, 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. In order to restore the power of the blows, the fish will need time. This is such unconventional fishing, but the catch is very unusual!
Electric eel - big fish, length from 1 to 3 meters, the weight of the eel reaches 40 kg. The body of the eel is elongated - serpentine, covered with gray-green skin without scales, and in the front part it is rounded, and closer to the tail it is flattened laterally. Eels live in South America, in particular in the Amazon Basin.
A large eel creates a discharge with a voltage of up to 1200 V and a current of up to 1 A. Even small aquarium specimens produce discharges from 300 to 650 V. Thus, an electric eel can pose a serious danger to humans.
The electric eel accumulates significant charges of electricity, the discharges of which are used for hunting and defense against predators. But the eel is not the only fish that produces electricity.
Electric fish
In addition to electric eels, a huge number of freshwater and sea fish capable of generating electricity. In total there are about three hundred such species from various unrelated families.
Most "electric" fish use an electric field to navigate or find prey, but some representatives have more serious charges.
Electric rays are cartilaginous fish, relatives of sharks; depending on the species, they can have a charge voltage of 50 to 200 V, and the current reaches 30 A. Such a charge can hit quite large prey.
Electric catfish - freshwater fish, reach 1 meter in length, weight does not exceed 25 kg. Despite its relatively modest size, the electric catfish is capable of producing 350-450 V, with a current of 0.1-0.5 A.
Electric organs
These fish exhibit unusual abilities thanks to modified muscles - an electrical organ. In different fish, this formation has a different structure, size, and location; for example, in the electric eel it is located on both sides along the body and makes up about 25% of the fish’s mass.
At the Enoshima Aquarium in Japan, an electric eel is used to light up the Christmas tree. The tree is connected to an aquarium, the fish living in it produces about 800 W of electricity, which is quite enough for illumination.
Any electrical organ consists of electrical plates - modified nerve and muscle cells, the membranes of which create a potential difference.
Electric plates connected in series are assembled into columns that are connected in parallel to each other. The potential difference generated by the plates accumulates at opposite ends of the electrical organ. All that remains is to activate it.
An electric eel, for example, bends and a series of electrical discharges jump between the positively charged front of the body and the negatively charged back, striking the prey.
The only species of the genus Electrophorus. Despite external resemblance, not related to true eels.
Encyclopedic YouTube
1 / 4
✪ Who is the electric eel
✪ Electric eels
✪ Electric stingray and eel
✪ 5 MONSTERS OF THE AMAZON RIVER
Subtitles
Area
They inhabit the rivers of the northeastern part of South America and tributaries of the middle and lower reaches of the Amazon.
Story
Europeans received the first information about the electric eel from the Spanish conquerors. First detailed description was made in 1729. In 1766, Carl Linnaeus described the species based on the work of the Dutch scientist Jan Gronovius, giving him scientific name Gymnotus electricu.
Naturalists did not immediately believe that these fish strike with electricity. It was assumed that they “freeze” their prey in some mysterious way. However, in June 1772, Fellow of the Royal Society John Walsh proved that eels use electricity to stun their victims.
Description
Length from 1 to 3 m, weight up to 40 kg. The electric eel has bare skin, without scales, and the body is very elongated, rounded in the front and somewhat compressed laterally in the back. The color of adult electric eels is olive-brown, the underside of the head and throat is bright orange, the edge of the anal fin is light, and the eyes are emerald green.
Electric organs
An interesting thing about the structure of electric eels are the electric organs, which occupy about 4/5 of the body length. The eel generates a discharge with a voltage of up to 1300 V and a current of up to 1 A. The positive charge is in the front of the body, the negative charge is in the back. Electric organs are used by the eel to protect against enemies and to paralyze prey, which consists mainly of small fish. There is also an additional electric organ that acts as a locator. An electric shock from an adult electric eel can stun a horse.
Lifestyle
Almost nothing is known about the reproduction of electric eels. Electric eels do well in captivity and often decorate large public aquariums. This fish is dangerous if you come into direct contact with it.
Biotope characteristics
The electric eel lives in marshy areas where there are many oxbow lakes, ponds and lakes, which gradually become overgrown with vegetation and turn into swamps. In such a muddy and dirty water the eel rests and hides.
Breath
It is interesting that the electric eel develops special areas of vascular tissue in the oral cavity, which allow it to absorb oxygen directly from atmospheric air. To capture a new portion of air, the eel must rise to the surface of the water at least once every fifteen minutes, but usually it does this somewhat more often. If the fish is deprived of this opportunity, it will die. The electric eel's ability to use atmospheric oxygen to breathe allows it to remain out of water for several hours, but only if its body and mouth remain moist. This feature provides increased survival of eels in unfavorable conditions existence.
Electricity usage
Electrical impulses are transmitted nerve fibers into the neurons of the brain, this is how various signals that the body perceives are transmitted. Special electrical organs serve fish for orientation, defense, hunting and communication. Electrical discharges are capable of producing about 250 species of fish.
Electric organs serve primarily for orientation, as well as tools for hunting and protection. However, among all representatives of the fauna, only two species of fish (eels and stingrays) produce a charge of such force that it can paralyze or even kill a person. Eels and stingrays have such powerful electricity in their bodies that they can use it as a weapon.
Navigation
Like all electric fish, electric eels are capable of using weak electrical signals to navigate and communicate socially with other electric eels in the dark or in muddy water. For orientation, the fish uses a low voltage (10 V), and the electric field extends over a radius of 5 meters.
Some of the electrical receptors are tuned to detect non-electric fish, others are specialized to detect signals from their relatives. The ability to detect electrical signals allows eels to even sense the heartbeat of other fish.
Hunting
For hunting, the eel uses a voltage of 300-600 V. The attack of the electric eel consists of 4-8 discharges, but they are short: they last only two to three thousandths of a second. Having approached the victim, the eel discharges an electric discharge, and the pursued fish, as well as all living creatures around, fall into stupor - the eel can only choose the most suitable victim. With its mouth wide open, it swallows fish, crabs and small animals one after another; while swallowing, he sniffles and makes a noise that can be heard from afar.
Interaction with other predators
The electric eel is a danger to all aquatic life. Turtles, frogs, lizards and even crocodiles prefer to give up their hunting grounds. However, sometimes young, inexperienced caimans still decide to attack an electric eel and, as a rule, are defeated.
In culture
Notes
- Reshetnikov Yu. S., Kotlyar A. N., Rass T. S., Shatunovsky M. I. Five-language dictionary of animal names. Fish. Latin, Russian, English, German, French. / under the general editorship of academician. V. E. Sokolova. - M.: Rus. lang., 1989. - P. 131. - 12,500 copies. - ISBN 5-200-00237-0.
- Electric feeling (undefined) . elementy.ru. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- Electrophorus electricus (Electric eel) (undefined) . Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
Many readers of the site about animals know that there are fish that have the ability to hit electric shock(in the literal sense), but not everyone knows how this is done. We propose to consider the two most famous marine representatives that generate current: electric stingray and electric eel. You will learn:
- is the current of these electric fish dangerous for humans;
- how the organs that produce electricity in stingrays and eels are structured;
- how stingrays and eels hunt and catch prey;
- how live fish are associated with the New Year holiday.
Electric stingray - living battery
Electric rays are mostly small - from 50 to 60 cm, but there are some individuals that reach a length of 2 m. Small representatives of these fish create an insignificant electric charge, and in turn, large stingrays carry out discharges of 300 volts. The organs of an individual that produce current make up 1/6 of the body and are very developed. They are located on both sides - they occupy the space between the fin of the chest and the head, and can be seen from the dorsal and abdominal parts.
The internal organs of fish that produce electricity have the following structure. A certain number of columns that make up the electric plates and the bottom of the plate, like the entire organ, carries a negative charge, and the top is positively charged.
When hunting, the stingray strikes prey by wrapping its fins around it, where the organs that produce electricity are located. During this process, an electrical charge is applied and the prey is electrocuted to death. The stingray is similar to battery . If he uses the entire charge, then he will need a few more to “charge” again.
A ramp without a charge is safe, however, if it has a charge, then a person can be seriously injured by a strong electrical discharge. Incidents with fatal not detected, although the one who touched the stingray may experience a decrease in blood pressure and disturbances heart rate, and spasms may also appear, and swelling of local tissues appears in the affected area. The stingray is inactive and mainly lives at the bottom, so in order not to meet it in aquatic environment, you need to pay attention when in shallow water.
In ancient Roman times, on the contrary, electrical discharges were (and are now recognized in medicine) as healing. It was believed that electric shock could relieve headaches and relieve gout. Even today, on the shores of the Mediterranean, older people deliberately walk barefoot in shallow water to relieve rheumatism and gout with electric shocks.
An electric eel lit up the lights on the Christmas tree.
And now the note, although about fish, concerns such a holiday as New Year! It would seem how it fits live fish And Christmas tree? That's how. Read on.
Most representatives from the electric eel group are from 1 to 1.5 m long, but there are species that reach three meters. In such individuals, the impact force reaches 650 volts. People electrocuted in water may lose consciousness and drown. The electric eel is one of the most dangerous representatives Amazon rivers. The eel emerges approximately once every 2 minutes to fill its lungs with air. He is very aggressive. If you approach an eel at a distance of less than three meters, it prefers not to take cover, but to immediately attack. Consequently, people who saw an eel closely should quickly swim away as far as possible.
The organs of the eel responsible for current have a similar structure to the organs of the stingray., but have a different location. They represent two elongated sprouts that have an oblong appearance and make up 4/5 of the eel’s body as a whole and have a mass that occupies almost 1/3 of the weight of the body. The front part of the eel carries a positive charge, and the back, accordingly, a negative one. As eels age, their vision decreases; it is because of this that they strike their prey by emitting weak electric shocks. The eel does not attack prey; a powerful charge is enough for it to kill all small fish from electric shock. The eel approaches its prey when it is already dead, grabs it by the head, and then swallows it.
Eels can often be seen in an aquarium, as they get used to artificial conditions relatively quickly. Of course, keeping such fish at home is more difficult than. In order to exhibit their capabilities, a lamp is attached to the tank and the wires are lowered into water. The light comes on during feeding. In Japan, in 2010, an experiment was carried out: a Christmas tree was lit using a current coming from an eel, which was in a special container and emitted current. Even the eel and its electric current can be useful if you direct the unique natural abilities of this fish in the right direction.
Anatomy of an electric eel. One can see a collection of cells organized into parallel structures that produce voltage and current. The following fragment shows a single cell with ion channels penetrating its membrane. Finally, a separate protein ion channel is shown
Electric eel in an aquarium
Electric eels are able to channel the combined energy produced by thousands of generating cells, creating a potential of 600 V. The mechanism for generating energy is similar to that which transmits electrical signals in our neurons: a chemical signal stimulates the work of selective “pumps” - ion channels in the cell membrane, which pump some ions (sodium) into the cell, and others (potassium) out. The flow of charged ions creates a potential difference inside and outside the cell, stimulating the work of a host of other channels: starting from a certain point, the process becomes autocatalytic, which leads to the signal propagating along the membrane of the long process of the neuron.
In total, according to LaVan, at least 7 are known different types ion channels, each of which has slightly different characteristics and distribution on the cell membrane. Nerve cells contain more than one, the task of which is not to create maximum voltage, but to quickly transmit a signal. The electricity-generating cells of some animals (electrocytes) work much slower, but they produce a much larger charge.
To understand how they work, LaVan and his colleagues developed a digital model that relates the ion concentration gradient to the electrical impulse and tested it using an example nerve cells and electrocytes. They then looked at various ways to optimize the system - using different types ion channels - in order to achieve maximum energy productivity.
Their calculations showed that truly significant improvements were possible. One version of the “artificial cell” is capable of creating an impulse 40% more powerful than living eel cells, another option - 28%.
Now scientists are considering the possibility of practically creating “batteries” from such cells, enclosed in a cube with a side of about 4 mm and capable of generating up to 300 microwatts of energy, which is quite enough to power small medical implants. The “fuel” for them can be ATP molecules - the same as in living organisms. According to LaVan, ATP will be able to be produced from sugar in the body by modified bacteria or mitochondria attached to this “battery.” It is also good that scientists are already able to obtain individual components of such artificial cells in the laboratory - both insulating membranes and ion channels.
If, however, you prefer to use eels the old fashioned way - for example, to make sushi with them - then pay attention to our tips for choosing suitable knives - real Japanese ones: “