This video reveals a lot of interesting facts about electric eels.
Electric Eel Facts
The electric eel is a South American freshwater fish found mainly in the Amazon River basin. Electric eels are one of the 600 types of fish that are capable of producing electricity. Although they are called eels, they are more closely related to catfish than to the common eels. They live in shallow muddy water and come to surface in every 10 minutes because they breathe atmospheric air. They can live in both types of water, salted and fresh.
Fast Facts: –
- An electric eel can reach 8 feet in length and weigh up to 44 pounds.
- Even though an electric eel looks like snake but it is really a fish.
- Their long and cylindrical body can be white, black, blue, purple or grey in colour.
- They are meat eaters and eat other fishes, amphibians, birds and small mammals.
- They have gills and very sharp teeth.
- The male eel creates the nest that the female lays her eggs in. He uses spit from his mouth to create a nest. The female comes and deposits up to 17,000 eggs at a time.
- Newly hatched eels eat small invertebrates but they also look for nests of other eels and steal their eggs.
- Electricity producing organ takes 80% of their body. It is used for defence against the predator and for stunning of the prey. They can produce an electric shock strong enough to knock down a horse.
- They have poor eyesight. They generate low level electric charge that helps them see their surrounding and locate a prey.
- An electric eel lives around 15 years in the wild and 22 years in captivity.
