Electric catfish

Encyclopedia : E : EL : ELE : Electric catfish

Electric catfish (family Malapteruridae) is the common name of several species of freshwater catfish with the ability to produce an electric shock of up to 350 volts using electroplaques. Electric catfish are found in several parts of Africa and the Nile river. Electric catfish are usually nocturnal and feed primarily on other fish, incapacitating their prey with electric discharges. They can grow as large as 3 feet long and over 40 pounds (18 kg) in weight. Electric catfish were known as far back as the ancient Egyptians. There are two genera and over 12 species known, most of which are dwarf species less than 12 inches long.

Species include:

• Malapterurus electricus - found in the Nile River and Lake Chad.
• Malapterurus minjiriya - found in the Niger River and Lake Kainji.
• Malapterurus microstoma - found in the Zaire River basin.

See also

• Catfish
• Electric eel
• Electric ray
• Pieter Bleeker

References

• [Animal Diversity Web]
• [Integrated Taxonomic Information System report]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.