Electric eel
Amazing fact
A male electric eel builds a nest from saliva and guards the young.
Smithsonian National Zoo
No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.
An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
A male electric eel builds a nest from saliva and guards the young.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Electric eel
- Scientific name
- Electrophorus electricus
- Japanese name
- デンキウナギ
- Group
- Freshwater animals
- Order
- Gymnotiformes
- Family
- Gymnotidae
- Genus
- Electrophorus
A fish of the Amazon River. Despite its name, it is more closely related to catfish and carp than to eels.
Most of its body is made up of electric organs, and it stuns its prey with powerful shocks.
From time to time it comes up to the surface and breathes air through its mouth.
How the Electric eel lives
In murky water, it senses movement in the water while hunting. Its long anal fin lets it swim forwards and backwards. In the rainy season, rivers swell and young eels spread into new areas.
Smithsonian National ZooBasic data
- Size
- Total length: 2 m or more鳥羽水族館
- Diet
- Fish, crustaceans, insects and small vertebratesSmithsonian National Zoo
- Range
- Northern South AmericaSmithsonian National Zoo
Where the Electric eel 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
- デンキウナギ
- 简体中文
- 电鳗
- 繁體中文
- 電鰻
- 한국어
- 전기뱀장어
- Español
- Anguila eléctrica
- Français
- Anguille électrique
- Deutsch
- Zitteraal
- Português (Brasil)
- Poraquê
- Italiano
- Elettroforo
- العربية
- أنقليس رعاد
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Sidat listrik
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá chình điện
- Русский
- Электрический угорь
- Türkçe
- Elektrikli yılan balığı
- ไทย
- ปลาไหลไฟฟ้า
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 — デンキウナギChecked: 2026-11-03
- Smithsonian National Zoo — Electric eelChecked: 2026-11-03
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.
Report a mistakeMORE TO MEET
