An electric eel is a fish. It is not a true eel. It is more closely related to catfish and carp than to true eels. It has a long, snake-like body and a flat head. An eel has thick skin with no scales. It is dark on top, with a yellow or orange part underneath.
An electric eel swims with one long fin along its underside. It has almost no other fins. It can swim forward and backward. It grows to be about 8 feet, or 2.5 meters, long. As of November 2026, the heaviest published weight is 20 kilograms (44 pounds).
Electric eels live in rivers and ponds in South America. Many live in quiet, slow-moving, muddy water in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. The water can be low in oxygen, so the eels breathe air. An eel comes up to the top of the water to breathe. It gets about 80 percent of its oxygen by gulping air at the surface. In the dry season the water in the rivers drops, and eels can be left in small pools.
An electric eel makes electricity with special cells called electrocytes. It has thousands of them. Most of its body is electric organ. Most of the time it makes only a weak charge, about 10 volts or less. Electric eels hunt at night. An eel does not see well, so it uses the charge to find prey and to find its way in dark water. It eats fish and other small animals. It can make a shock that stuns the animals it eats.
Young electric eels eat mostly small animals without backbones, such as insects and crustaceans. Adults eat mostly fish. A male electric eel builds a nest out of saliva and guards the young eels.
Words to know
- electrocytes: power cells
- oxygen: air gas
- crustaceans: crab-like animals
- saliva: spit
- prey: food animals
The short version
An electric eel is a fish that lives in rivers and ponds in South America. It is not a true eel. Its body is mostly electric organ, made of thousands of cells called electrocytes. It comes up to the surface to breathe air and hunts at night.
Quick facts
- An electric eel is a fish, more closely related to catfish and carp than to true eels.
- An electric eel grows to be about 8 feet (2.5 meters) long.
- An electric eel gets about 80 percent of its oxygen by gulping air at the surface.
- An electric eel makes electricity with special cells called electrocytes. It has thousands of them.
- Electric eels hunt at night.
Is an electric eel really an eel?
No. An electric eel is a fish, and it is not a true eel. It is more closely related to catfish and carp than to true eels.
How does an electric eel make electricity?
An electric eel makes electricity with special cells called electrocytes, and it has thousands of them. Most of its body is electric organ. Most of the time it makes only a weak charge, about 10 volts or less, to find its way and to find prey.
