Electric catfish
Amazing fact
The electric catfish changes the timing and duration of its electrical bursts to suit the situation.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The electric catfish changes the timing and duration of its electrical bursts to suit the situation.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Electric catfish
- Scientific name
- Malapterurus electricus
- Japanese name
- デンキナマズ
- Group
- Freshwater animals
- Order
- Siluriformes
- Family
- Malapteruridae
- Genus
- Malapterurus
How the Electric catfish lives
Its hunting and feeding are especially active after sunset. It eats the prey that is most readily available where it lives. It spends most of the daytime hiding under shelter.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Range
- Tropical Africa
Where the Electric catfish has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- デンキナマズ
- 简体中文
- 电鲇
- 繁體中文
- 電鯰
- 한국어
- 전기메기
- Français
- Poisson-chat électrique du Nil
- Deutsch
- Zitterwels
- Português (Brasil)
- Bagre-elétrico
- العربية
- رعادة النيل
- Русский
- Электрический сом
- Türkçe
- Elektrik Balığı
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — デンキナマズChecked: 2026-11-04
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Malapterurus electricusChecked: 2026-11-06
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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