A recently identified electric eel in the Amazon is the most powerful ever found, according to scientists

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Click here to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
• Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)

(CNN) - A newly identified eel that lives in the Amazon basin can cause record electric shocks, according to a study published Tuesday.

Researchers at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History have identified two new species of electric eel in the Amazon rainforest, tripling the known number of species of these.

One of the new species, Electrophorus voltai, can generate discharges of up to 860 volts of electricity, significantly more than the 650 volts generated by the well-known species of electric eel, Electrophorus electricus, according to the study published in the journal Nature Communications.

These electric eels, which are actually a type of eel-like fish, can grow up to eight feet (2.4 meters) and underline all that remains to be discovered in the Amazon rainforest, according to study leader David de Santana, associate researcher at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, in a press release.

“They are really striking,” said De Santana. "If you can discover a new eight-foot-long fish after 250 years of scientific exploration, can you imagine what remains to be discovered in that region?"

What are electric eels?

For 250 years, scientists have known that electric eels live in the Amazon basin. They just didn't know how many species lurked there.

Scientists thought for a long time that the electric eels found in swamps, streams and rivers in South America were all of the same species. The new study shows that eels actually belong to three different species.

The three species look more or less the same externally and use their electricity to navigate, communicate, hunt and in self-defense. But when scientists analyzed 107 samples, they discovered that all three species had different genetic material, unique skull shapes and different voltage levels.

According to their research, De Santana and his team believe that the three species began to evolve from their common ancestor approximately 7.1 million years ago.

The eel voltage may have been influenced by the conductivity of the waters in which they lived, according to the research. Electrophorus voltai, for example, lived in the clear waters of the highlands that did not conduct electricity well. According to De Santana, the strongest voltage of the species may be an adaptation to the low conductivity of water.

There are about 250 species of fish that can generate electricity, but electric eels are the only ones that use it to hunt and defend themselves.

In 1799, scientists used electric eels as inspiration for the first battery design, and these also inspired ideas on how to improve technology and treat some diseases.

The newly discovered electric eel species could have developed unique systems to produce electricity, perhaps a different system from the first species discovered, which could lead to more findings, said De Santana.

"It could have different enzymes, different compounds that could be used in medicine or could inspire new technologies," he said.

eel