Electric Fish

(From Kids InfoBits Presents: Plants and Animals, which includes ReadSpeaker text-to-speech technology)

Have you ever heard of a fish that can give you an electric shock? Electric fish have special organs in their body. These organs give off electricity.

There are about 500 different kinds of electric fish. These fish live all over the world. Most live in warm water.

An electric charge can hurt or kill prey. This helps the electric fish catch food. An electric charge can also hurt an animal that wants to eat the fish. This helps the electric fish stay safe.

The electric eel is the most powerful kind of electric fish. The electric eel can give off enough electricity to kill a horse. Electric eels live in South America. They grow to be up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) long.

The electric eel lives in dark, muddy water. It uses electricity to find its way around the water. These fish give off short bursts of electricity. The bursts bounce off objects around them. This helps the fish find things in the water.

The electric catfish lives in Africa. Electric catfish come out at night to look for food. They eat many different animals.

The ancient Egyptians were very interested in the electric catfish. They used the electric catfish as medicine. The Egyptians placed the electric catfish on the part of a person's body that hurt. They thought the electric shock would help the pain go away.

The electric ray is another kind of electric fish. They are flat and have a round shape. Electric rays live in warm waters all over the world. There are 35 different kinds of electric rays. Some are small. Others are more than 5 feet (1.5 meters) long.