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L. Sousa
By Eva Frederick
Scientists have long assumed that there was only one species of electric eel. (After all, who needs more?) But when a team of researchers examined more than 100 electric eels from the Amazon basin in South America, she discovered that there are actually three species, one of which offers the the most powerful shock ever measured in a living animal.
The researchers then studied 107 eels caught in Brazil, Suriname, French Guiana and Guyana. They analyzed the eel's DNA, examined their body and bone structures and mapped the places where they were captured. The data revealed three genetically separated groups with distinct geographical ranges, report researchers today in Nature Communications. Electrophorus electricus lives the most northerly, mainly in Guyana and Suriname; E. varii spreads along the Amazon lowlands, mainly in northern Brazil; and E. voltaiThe range plunges even further south of Brazil.
Although the species are almost indistinguishable by sight (they all have wrinkled and brown skin and a frowned mouth), the team was able to find subtle differences in skull shape and structure of the skull. body. E. electricus and E. voltaifor example, depressed skulls may have evolved as an adaptation to find food at the bottom of rocky rivers or to swim effectively in fast currents.
Scientists have also placed eels in inflatable pools to measure the strength of their shocks. They found that one of the new species, E. voltai– named after Alessandro Volta, the inventor of the battery – can deliver a shock of 860 volts, well above the previous zap of 650 volts. To put it in context, pushing a fork into a socket would vibrate your body between 120 and 240 volts, and a stun gun can produce about 1,200.
According to the researchers, the eels could have diverged from each other after being separated by the development of a large Amazon flood plain more than 3 million years ago. They did not try to find out if the different species of eels could cross if given the opportunity, but after millions of years of divergent evolution, it is unlikely that sparks fly.
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