Fish Files in your Backyard
Electric Eel (Electrophorus electicus)
Where do I live?
I live in freshwaters of the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers, as well as areas in South America. I like muddy bottoms in calm and stagnant waters with low oxygen levels.
What do I look like?
I have an snake like body that is elongated and cylindrical with an anal fin extending my entire length. I am dark gray or brown with a yellowish belly. Juveniles have yellow spots.
What do I eat?
The electric current I produce allows me to stun my prey which includes invertebrates, fish, and small mammals.
What is unique about me?
I am able to generate powerful electric shocks of up to 600 volts (which can be heard) and are used for hunting, self-defense, and may be used in communication to help find and choose a mate. I breathe air and need to surface approximately every 10 minutes in order to stay alive. I am not actually a true eel but rather a knifefish.
How Common am I?
I am not listed as threatened or endangered.
Ozark Cavefish (Amblyopsis rosea)
Where do I live?
I live in freshwater environments and am native to the United States and can be found in caves within the Springfield Plateau in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. I like to live in caves that have a lot of nutrients such as bat guano or leaf litter.
What do I look like?
I am pinkish-white in colour and have no eyes or pelvic fins. Some people describe me as a “ghost fish.”
What do I eat?
I eat microscopic organisms, small crustaceans, salamander larvae and bat droppings.
What is unique about me?
I evolved in caves which have little or no light and therefore did not need my eyes. Instead I use sensory organs located all over my body to detect movement and chemical changes in the water.
How Common am I?
I am a threatened species and may even become endangered in the future. I have my very own 40 acre National Wildlife Refuge in Lawrence County, Missouri called the Ozark Cavefish National Refuge, which is a dedicated to protecting me as well as protecting the endangered gray bat, whose droppings provide me with essential nutrients. Water pollution, habitat destruction, and overfishing have led to the drastic decline of my population.