An electric eel is a fish. It is not a true eel. It lives in rivers and ponds in South America.
It has a long body like a snake. Its head is flat. Its thick skin has no scales. It is dark on top. Underneath, it is yellow or orange.
It grows to be about 8 feet long. That is 2.5 meters.
The heaviest published weight for an electric eel is 20 kilograms. That is 44 pounds. This is as of November 2026.
Many live in quiet, slow, muddy water. They live in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins.
An electric eel comes up to the top of the water. There it breathes air.
It eats fish and other small animals. Its shock stuns the animals it eats.
Electric eels hunt at night. An eel does not see well. It uses a weak charge to find its way. The water is dark.
Words to know
- scales: skin plates
- basins: river lands
- stuns: makes still
- weak: not strong
