Electric Eels Seen Hunting in Groups for the First Time
Share
The electric eel (Electrophorus voltai) in the Xingu River. (Photo: L. Sousa)
To sign up for our daily newsletter covering the latest news, features and reviews, head HERE. For a running feed of all our stories, follow us on Twitter HERE. Or you can bookmark the Gizmodo Australia homepage to visit whenever you need a news fix.
Electric eels were already exceptionally weird fish. These eels actually three different species of giant, South American knifefish pack as much as an 860-volt punch used to stupefy prey and defend themselves. Long thought to be exclusively solitary predators of slow, murky rivers, new research suggests electric eels can hunt in groups, cooperatively training their electric pulses on schools of prey fish.
Electric eels shocking their prey as a group in a coordinated hunting effort. (Douglas Bastos)
(CN) In the heart of the Brazilian wilds, researchers have discovered a lake that is home to scores of electric eels shrewdly working together to bring down elusive prey, despite once being regarded as a species that exclusively hunts and dines alone.
Deep in the untamed lands of the Amazon rainforest off the banks of the Iriri River in Brazil, C. David de Santana and a team of scientists have discovered a small, unassuming lake fed by the waters of the nearby river. The lake, no deeper than 10 feet at its lowest point and well populated by a network of sunken logs, quickly captured the attention of researchers for a single, perplexing reason: living among the underwater debris are over 100 electric eels, all living in remarkably close quarters considering their history of being – like most fish – largely solitary predators.
January 14th, 2021, 11:00AM / BY Abigail Eisenstadt
The Volta’s electric eel,
Electrophorus voltai, emits the strongest shocks of any animal on Earth. Although these eels were thought to be loners, the species was recently seen hunting in a group. (L. Sousa)
A group of crows is called a murder and a group of lemurs is called a conspiracy. But there is no name for a group of electric eels. That’s because in the past scientists thought they were solitary animals.
Today, a new paper in
Ecology and Evolution challenges what researchers know about eels’ supposed loner behavior. Researchers have now discovered a group of electric eels working together to attack small fish in the Brazilian Amazon River basin. The eels, which are a type of knifefish rather than true eels, were once thought to be loners who preyed alone.
Electric Eels Hunt in Packs, Shocking Prey and Scientists
The behavior, used by wolves and orcas to run down fast prey, is rarely seen in fish.
A Volta’s electric eel in the Xingu River in northern Brazil.Credit.L. Sousa
By Annie Roth
Jan. 14, 2021
In August 2012, Douglas Bastos, then a graduate student at Brazil’s Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, was exploring a remote waterway in the Amazon rainforest when he came across a small lake teeming with electric eels.
Electric eels, which despite their name are actually a type of knifefish, were believed to be solitary creatures. And yet before Dr. Bastos’s eyes were more than 100 of them. Then things got even more jolting.