Electric Eel (redirected from Electric eels)

electric eel: see electric fish.

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electric eel

Eel-shaped South American fish (Electrophorus electricus) capable of producing an electric shock strong enough to stun a human. The electric eel (not a true eel) is a sluggish inhabitant of slow freshwater, surfacing periodically to gulp air. Long, cylindrical, scaleless, and gray-brown, it sometimes reaches a length of 9 ft (2.75 m) and a weight of 49 lbs (22 kg). The tail region, bordered below by a long anal fin that the fish undulates to move about, contains the electric organs. The shock (up to 650 volts discharged at will) is used mainly to immobilize fish and other prey.

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electric eel

an eel-like freshwater cyprinoid fish, Electrophorus electricus, of N South America, having electric organs in the body: family Electrophoridae

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electric eel [i¦lek·trik ′ēl]

(vertebrate zoology)

Electrophorus electricus.An eellike cypriniform electric fish of the family Gymnotidae.

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Electric Eel 

(Electrophorus electricus), a fish of the family Electrophoridae, order Cypriniformes. The electric eel inhabits fresh waters of Central and South America. Its body, which is naked, may reach 3 m in length and weigh as much as 40 kg. Electric organs are distributed along the sides of the body. Dorsal and ventral fins are absent. The anal orifice is on the throat, and the anal fin serves as the organ of locomotion. The electric eel feeds on small fish. Its reproduction has not been studied. The eel’s flesh is edible.

REFERENCE

Zhizn zhivotnykh, vol. 4, part 1. Moscow, 1971.