488 Fishes. 



THE ELECTRICAL EEL. (Gymnotus Electricus.) 



THIS very remarkable fish is about five or six feet in 

 length, and twelve inches in circumference, in the 

 thickest part of the body. The head is broad, flat, and 

 large ; the moutn wide and destitute of teeth ; the ros- 

 trum obtuse and rounded ; the eyes small and of a bluish 

 colour ; the back of a darkish brown, the sides grey, and 

 the abdomen of a dingy white. Across the body there 

 are several annular divisions, or rather ridges of the skin, 

 which give the fish the power of contracting or dilating 

 itself at pleasure. There is no dorsal fin, and the ventral 

 fins are also wanting, as in all the Eels. It is able to 

 swim backwards as well as forwards. 



Mr. Bryant mentions an instance of the shock from one 

 of these fish being felt through a considerable thickness 

 of wood. One morning, while he was standing by, as a 

 servant was emptying a tub, in which an Electrical Eel 

 was contained, he had lifted it entirely from the ground, 

 and was pouring off the water to renew it, when he re- 

 ceived a shock so violent as occasioned him to let the 

 tub fall. He then called another person to his assist- 

 ance, and they lifted up the tub together, each laying 

 hold only on the outside. When they were pouring off 

 the remainder of the water, they received a shock so 

 smart that they were compelled to desist. 



Persons have been knocked down with a stroke. One 



