''Electrophorus voltai'', also known as ''Volta's electric eel'', is a species of

electric eel The electric eels are a genus, ''Electrophorus'', of neotropical freshwater fish from South America in the family Gymnotidae, of which they are the only members of the subfamily Electrophorinae. They are known for their electric fish, ability ...

found in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. It is the strongest known bioelectricity generator in nature, producing up to 860 volts.

Taxonomy

It was previously classified within ''

Electrophorus electricus ''Electrophorus electricus'' is the best-known species of electric eel. It is a South American electric fish. Until the discovery of two additional species in 2019, the genus was classified as the monotypic, with this species the only one in the ...

'' when that species was considered the only one in the genus ''

Electrophorus In electromagnetism, an electrophorus or electrophore is a simple, manual, Capacitor, capacitive, electrostatic generator used to produce Electric charge, charge via the process of electrostatic induction. A first version of it was invented in 1 ...

'', but a 2019 analysis described it and '' E. varii'' as distinct species based on both their deep genetic divergences and differences in the

voltage Voltage, also known as (electrical) potential difference, electric pressure, or electric tension, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a Electrostatics, static electric field, it corresponds to the Work (electrical), ...

produced by each species. It is thought to have diverged from its sister species ''E. electricus'' during the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Alessandro Volta Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (, ; ; 18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827) was an Italian chemist and physicist who was a pioneer of electricity and Power (physics), power, and is credited as the inventor of the electric battery a ...

, who is widely credited as the creator of the

electric battery An electric battery is a source of electric power consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections for powering electrical devices. When a battery is supplying power, its positive Terminal (electronics), terminal is the ...

Distribution

It inhabits upland habitats, primarily north-flowing rivers of the Brazilian Shield, but also some south-flowing rivers of the Guiana Shield. In some streams of the Guiana Shield, it is

sympatric In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

with ''E. varii''.

Description

It closely resembles ''E. electricus'' but differs in skull morphology, including having a depressed skull and a wide head. It has a maximum voltage of 860 volts, making it not only the strongest bioelectricity generator of the three electric eel species, but also of any animal. It can reach and , making them the largest species of the Gymnotiformes. Males get larger than females by about .

Behavior

A 2021 study reported the first known occurrence of pack hunting by electric eels in a population of ''E. voltai'' at the mouth of the Iriri River in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q67284909 voltai Strongly electric fish Knifefish of Brazil Fish of French Guiana Fish of Guyana Fish of Suriname Freshwater fish of Venezuela Taxa named by Carlos David Canabarro Machado de Santana Taxa named by William Gareth Richard Crampton Taxa named by Wolmar B. Wosiacki Taxa named by Mark Henry Sabaj Pérez Taxa named by Casey B. Dillman Taxa named by Natália Castro e Castro Taxa named by Douglas A. Bastos Taxa named by Richard Peter Vari Fish described in 2019 Alessandro Volta