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Friday 26 December 2014

Electric Eel

Electric eels are neotropical freshwater fish from South America. Despite their name, they are not closely related to the true eels but are electroreceptive knifefish,  more closely related to catfish.

Reports of people receiving shocks from electric fish date back to ancient Egyptian texts of 2750 BC.

Ancient Romans recommended touching electric fish to cure headache or gout.

Their electrical capabilities were first studied in 1775, contributing to the invention in 1800 of the electric battery

When wounded, an electric eel can accidentally shock itself—an eel's thick skin is what normally insulates it from its own attacks.

By No machine-readable author provided. Stevenj assumed (based on copyright claims)

An electric eel will short-circuit itself if put into salt water.

An electric eel can produce a shock of up to 650 volts for hunting or self-defense.

The eels can at least double the power of their electrical discharge by forming a circle with their bodies.

They are nocturnal, air-breathing animals, with poor vision complemented by electrolocation

Electric eels mainly eat fish, in particular the armoured catfish.

Electric eels grow for as long as they live, adding more vertebrae to their spinal column. 

Captive specimens have sometimes lived for over 20 years. 

Source Wikipedia

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