6 7 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
The Muraena is an eel found in the Mediterranean, the flesh of which was 
at one time so highly esteemed by the Romans that vast aquaria were built for 
their rearing, and in the markets 
these eels were sold at so great a 
price that only the wealthiest could 
afford such luxury. The rage for 
its flesh was at one time so great 
lamprey (Petromyzon americanus). 
that captive men, women and children were 
killed and thrown into these aquaria in the belief that such food made the 
Muraena’s flesh more delicious. 
This species is hardly so large as 
common eel {Anguilla vulgaris ). con ff er ’ ^ut habits are es¬ 
sentially the same. The mouth, 
a more formidable set of teeth, and the snout sharper, 
is peculiar to marsh regions and shallows of South 
America, where it grows to a length of six feet. In size and feature it very much 
resembles the conger, though the mouth is not so large nor so well armed, but it 
has a much greater armament in the powerful electric battery with which nature 
however, is armed with 
The Electric Eel 
has endowed it. These electrical 
organs, while easily located, are 
THE murajna {M. Helena). 
no more easily described than is 
the electric fluid itself. It is 
sufficient, therefore, to say the 
creature possesses the power of 
imparting a shock equal to that 
of a twelve-jar battery, and may 
give several discharges before 
the storage of electricity is ex¬ 
hausted. People about the region 
in which this animal lives are very 
fond of the flesh, and make use of a singular means to effect its capture. Knowing 
that these eels are most plentiful in the shallow ponds in the neighborhood of 
salt marshes, the fishers drive into these places a herd of horses, the tramplings 
of which quickly arouse the eels. As the creatures are combative, they attack the 
horses by imparting terrific shocks, and as the horses are not permitted to come 
ashore the eels continue to discharge their batteries until the force is entirely 
expended. When this 
is done they are en¬ 
tirely helpless, and 
may be taken in the 
hand by the people 
without danger. This 
wonderful power the 
eel uses in capturing 
its prey, instead of 
seizing live creatures 
with the mouth, as 
do all others of the 
eel species. This method of fishing is hard upon the horses, but very profitable 
to the fishermen. There is a non-electrical eel which is very fond of feeding 
electric EEL (Gytnnotus electric< 
