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Acne electric - the inhabitants of the turbid waters of the Amazon

Electric eel (photo of him can be seen in this article) belongs to the class of Bony fishes from the family of Electric Eels. It dwells in the middle and lower tributaries of the Amazon and in small rivers of the northeast of South America. It is a large fish, its average length is from 1 to 1.5 m, but there are also three-meter individuals weighing up to 40 kg.

Acne electric has an unglitched, naked serpentine body, which is covered with a thin layer of mucus and in the back part is somewhat compressed laterally. Color can be called camouflage. In young individuals it is homogeneous, olive brown, and adults have a bright orange color on the underside of the head and on the throat. Eyes small, in the mouth is one row of small teeth. Abdominal and dorsal fins absent, thoracic very small, well developed only anal fin. It is with his help that the eel flies beautifully in all directions. A fish place is the bottom of the river, where it prefers to hide among algae. There you have to catch the eel.

Usually in the places of its habitat, the waters are turbid, slow-flowing with a minimum oxygen content. Therefore, these fish in the mouth have special zones from the vascular tissue, which allows them to absorb oxygen from the atmospheric air. In other words, electric eels are forced from time to time for a few minutes to rise to the surface of the water in order to get a portion of fresh air.

Why are they called electrical? The fact is that this species is able to generate discharges of electricity. Usually one such discharge is 350 V, but especially large individuals are capable of producing a voltage of up to 650 V, which is dangerous even for humans. How does this happen? Acne electric has a special organ that takes up most of their body and consists of special cells. They are joined together in a sequential order by branches of nerves. Plus is located in front of the body, and in the back - minus. Weak electrical charges are created at the beginning of the body, and by the end of their journey they are summed up, and their power increases several times. This fish is also called a live battery.

The discharge of a large individual is capable of stunning even a solid opponent. Although it is worth noting that electric acne basically feeds on small fry. So why do they need such power? It must be said that this species remains unexplored until today, for example, it is still unknown how they reproduce. And such ranks, most likely, are necessary for self-defense, after all, for hunting they use no more than 300 V. Having deafened or killed thus a fish, eels descend behind it to the bottom and swallow it there whole.

In addition to the described electrical organs, this type of eel has one additional, which acts as a locator. With its help, fish emit locational low-frequency discharges. They return from obstacles in front of them and possible extraction, and thus, acne gets the information they need. They attack without warning and even in case of danger they do not try to hide. Therefore, if on your way there was a similar eel, it is better to give way first to him, especially a large individual. Perhaps its electrical discharge will not kill you, but you can completely lose consciousness from it. So it is wiser to retreat to a safe distance.

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