What the sources say
Volta Electric EelElectrophorus voltai
Every figure, record and mechanism on the Volta Electric Eel profile was written from a source, and this is the working table behind it: 44 claims checked word for word against these sources. The left column is what the page says. The right column is the source's own words, copied, not paraphrased; a ... marks a cut and[brackets] an insertion. Open any source and check it yourself.
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Source
01
de Santana et al. 2019
de Santana et al. (2019). Unexpected species diversity in electric eels with a description of the strongest living bioelectricity generator. Nature Communications.
- The page saysThe biological super-battery that hit 860 volts, the strongest electric discharge known from any living animal
- The source says
For one of the new species, we recorded a discharge of 860 V, well above 650 V previously cited for Electrophorus, making it the strongest living bioelectricity generator.
- The page saysfiring up to 860 volts
- The source says
high-voltage EOD 860 V at 1219 mm TL (Fig. 4d), n = 1
Note: 860 V is the only E. voltai discharge measured (n = 1), so it is the recorded maximum. Haddad et al. 2025 also give 'up to 860 volts' for Electrophorus spp. - The page saysRocky shield rivers and streams, including rapids and waterfalls
- The source says
Shield streams and rivers are ... include rocky substrates, rapids, and waterfalls
- The page saysin generally north-flowing rivers of the Brazilian Shield and south-flowing rivers of the Guiana Shield, South America
- The source says
voltai occurs in generally north-flowing rivers of the Brazilian shield and south-flowing rivers of the Guyana shield
Note: Species-specific range from the describing paper. The old habitat said 'murky' and 'highland', neither of which the paper uses; it describes shield waters as normoxic, low-conductivity and rocky. - The page saysBioelectrogenesis discharging up to 860 volts
- The source says
high-voltage EOD 860 V at 1219 mm TL (Fig. 4d), n = 1
- The page saysIn 2019, researchers described a new species, Volta's electric eel (Electrophorus voltai), and recorded one specimen discharging 860 volts
- The source says
high-voltage EOD 860 V at 1219 mm TL (Fig. 4d), n = 1
Note: 2019 is the paper's publication year, in which E. voltai is described as sp. nov. - The page sayswell above the 650 volts previously reported for electric eels
- The source says
For one of the new species, we recorded a discharge of 860 V, well above 650 V previously cited for Electrophorus
- The page saysThat makes Volta's electric eel the strongest living bioelectricity generator known
- The source says
making it the strongest living bioelectricity generator
- The page saysThe Strongest Bio-Electricity on Earth
- The source says
making it the strongest living bioelectricity generator
- The page saysDescribed as a new species in 2019
- The source says
two of which warrant recognition as new species. For one of the new species, we recorded a discharge of 860 V
Note: 2019 is the paper's publication year. - The page saysit holds the record for the strongest electric discharge measured in any living animal
- The source says
The discharge recorded of E . voltai is distinctly higher than any voltage previously cited for Electrophorus 2 , 3 , making it the strongest bioelectricity generator known.
- The page saysa single specimen jolted out 860 volts
- The source says
high-voltage EOD 860 V at 1219 mm TL (Fig. 4d), n = 1
Source
02
Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Electric eel. Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
- The page saysMainly fish, plus crustaceans, insects, amphibians and small mammals
- The source says
Adult electric eels are generalist carnivores, eating fish, crustaceans, insects and small vertebrates, such as amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
Note: Genus-level: the Zoo page is for Electrophorus electricus in the pre-2019 sense. No diet study specific to E. voltai was found. - The page saysSouth American knifefish
- The source says
More than 220 species of South American knifefish in the electric eel's lineage
- The page saysWhen hunting in dark, murky water
- The source says
In the dark and murky waters they inhabit, prey can be difficult to spot.
Note: Genus-level (Zoo page for pre-split E. electricus), so the sentence says 'an electric eel', not E. voltai. - The page saysWhen it suspects prey is hiding nearby, it often fires a doublet, two rapid high-voltage pulses
- The source says
When the eel suspects a prey item is nearby, it emits two rapid electric pulses, called a doublet.
Source
03
Natural History Museum, London
How do electric eels work? Natural History Museum, London.
- The page saysA bio-battery of stacked electrocytes
- The source says
Electric eels are like living batteries ... They have stacks of modified muscle cells called electrocytes
- The page sayswith shocks that help it deter predators such as caiman
- The source says
This is when their electric shock abilities are particularly valuable, helping to deter predators such as jaguars and caiman.
- The page saysMainly fish
- The source says
diet is primarily made up of fish, but they will also eat crabs, insects, amphibians and mammals
- The page saysthe electric eel is a South American knifefish belonging to the order Gymnotiformes. It is more closely related to catfishes and carp than to the "true" eels in the order Anguilliformes
- The source says
Though they're commonly called eels, they're not Anguilliformes, which are 'true' eels. Instead, electric eels belong to the order Gymnotiformes, also known as knifefishes, and are more closely related to catfishes and carp.
- The page saysan electric eel can leap partly out of the water
- The source says
Electric eels are able to leap partially out of the water and press themself against a predator.
- The page saysthe most positively charged part of its body
- The source says
attach the most positively charged part of their body – their chin – to the predator
- The page saysinstead of into the water
- The source says
This prevents electrical charge dispersing out into the water and instead all the electricity gets dumped into whatever is trying to catch it
- The page saysDespite its name and snake-like body, the Volta Electric Eel (Electrophorus voltai) is actually a knifefish, more closely related to catfish than to true eels
- The source says
Electric eels are long, cylindrical fish with flattened heads. Though they're commonly called eels, they're not Anguilliformes, which are 'true' eels. Instead, electric eels belong to the order Gymnotiformes, also known as knifefishes, and are more closely related to catfishes and carp.
- The page saysnearly four times the voltage of a standard UK plug socket
- The source says
They can generate up to 860 volts of electricity ... nearly four times the voltage of a standard UK plug socket.
Note: Cited for the socket comparison only. The same NHM sentence credits 860 V to E. varii, which is wrong: de Santana et al. recorded it in E. voltai. Replaces an unsourced 'over seven times a US wall outlet' (120 V appeared in no source). - The page saysLiving batteries
- The source says
Electric eels are like living batteries
- The page saysAbout 80% of an electric eel's body is taken up by three electric organs
- The source says
Electric eels have three special organs that help them create electricity. ... These organs take up about 80% of the eel
- The page saysbuilt from stacks of electrocytes, modified muscle cells that each have a positive and a negative side
- The source says
They have stacks of modified muscle cells called electrocytes that have both a positive and a negative side.
Source
04
Catania 2016
Catania (2016). Leaping eels electrify threats, supporting Humboldt's account of a battle with horses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
- The page sayspress its chin, the most positively charged part of its body, against the threat while firing off volleys of high-voltage discharges
- The source says
The behavior consists of an approach and leap out of the water during which the eel presses its chin against a threatening conductor while discharging high-voltage volleys.
- The page saysThe higher it rises, the more of its power is diverted through the threat
- The source says
The effect is to short-circuit the electric organ through the threat, with increasing power diverted to the threat as the eel attains greater height during the leap.
- The page saysThe behavior supports a famous account from March 1800, when the explorer Alexander von Humboldt watched fishermen herd horses into a pool of electric eels, which attacked by pressing themselves against the horses while discharging
- The source says
In March 1800, Alexander von Humboldt observed the extraordinary spectacle of native fisherman collecting electric eels (Electrophorus electricus) by "fishing with horses" ... The strategy was to herd horses into a pool containing electric eels, provoking the eels to attack by pressing themselves against the horses while discharging. ... This legendary tale of South American adventures helped propel Humboldt to fame ... Here I report a defensive eel behavior that supports Humboldt's account.
Note: Catania 2019 adds that Humboldt 'did not describe eels as leaping out of the water', so the old 'described electric eels leaping' and 'shrinking pool' were cut.
Source
05
Catania 2019
Catania (2019). The Astonishing Behavior of Electric Eels. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience.
- The page saysNo one had worked it out as of 2019, when a scientific review of electric eel behavior listed how an eel protects its own nervous system from its high-voltage discharge among the questions that remain to be investigated
- The source says
How does an eel protect its own nervous system from the high-voltage EOD? These are just a few of the many questions that remain to be investigated.
Note: 2019 is the review's publication year. Replaces a 2005 Scientific American Q&A (a magazine, 20 years old) and a Zoo sentence about organ layout that the Zoo never links to self-protection. - The page saysHigh-Voltage Remote Muscle Control
- The source says
Eels use their high-voltage electric discharge to remotely control prey by transcutaneously activating motor neurons.
- The page saystwo rapid high-voltage pulses that hijack the prey's nervous system and make its muscles twitch involuntarily
- The source says
Eels use their high-voltage electric discharge to remotely control prey by transcutaneously activating motor neurons. Hunting eels use this behavior in two different ways. When prey have been detected, eels use high-voltage to cause immobility by inducing sustained, involuntary muscle contractions. On the other hand, when prey are hidden, eels often use brief pulses to induce prey twitch
- The page saysgiving away roughly where it is hiding
- The source says
When prey are hidden, or their identity is uncertain, eels can induce involuntary twitch, revealing their approximate location
- The page saysBetween 20 and 40 milliseconds after the twitch, a full high-voltage volley
- The source says
eels responded to the twitch with a high-voltage volley and strike toward the preparation with a delay of 20–40 ms
Note: With live prey the review says the doublet is 'followed (20–40 ms later) by the eel’s full, tetanus inducing high-voltage volley and suction feeding strike'. - The page saysa full high-voltage volley freezes the prey in place and the eel strikes
- The source says
When prey have been detected, eels use high-voltage to cause immobility by inducing sustained, involuntary muscle contractions.
Source
06
Haddad Júnior et al. 2025
Haddad Júnior et al. (2025). Two Clinical Records of Human Injuries with a Death caused by Electric Eels Electrophorus spp. Gill, 1864. Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical.
- The page saysof direct electrical current
- The source says
each comprising from tens to hundreds of individual monophasic EODs (containing only DC content)
- The page saysIn 1997, a 23-year-old man bathing in a Brazilian river convulsed after touching an electric eel, went under
- The source says
In September 1997, a doctor on duty in an emergency service at a riverside hospital in Northern Tocantins State, Brazil, responded to an emergency with a 23-year-old male patient whose companions reported seeing him come into contact with an electric eel. The incident occurred in a shallow section of a small tributary of the Tocantins river where they were bathing. The patient's companions reported that he convulsed at the surface of the water, then submerged and disappeared from sight.
- The page saysand likely drowned
- The source says
The shocks caused muscle rigidity, and the victim likely drowned because of muscle contracture.
- The page saysA 2025 medical report calls it the first reliable clinical record of a death caused by an electric eel
- The source says
We also present the first reliable clinical report of death caused by an electric eel, with the cause of mortis likely to be drowning.
Note: 2025 is the report's publication year. - The page saysand names Volta's electric eel as the most likely species
- The source says
The image quality in Figure 3 is insufficient to facilitate species-level identification; however, given its geographical locality, E. voltai is the most likely species.
- The page saysan adult electric eel gives off weak pulses of around 10 volts to sense its surroundings
- The source says
The EODs of all gymnotiforms are used for object location in the dark and communication, but Electrophorus generates three types of EODs: a low-voltage (~10V in adults) discharge for electrolocation and communication
Source
07
Lyons 2021
Lyons (2021). Electrophorus voltai. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T204715926A204826094.
- The page saysLeast Concern
- The source says
Electrophorus voltai. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T204715926A204826094
Note: stats.conservationStatus. Hand check: iucnredlist.org refuses scripts (403). GBIF's relay of the Red List for the same IUCN taxon reads verbatim: {"category":"LEAST_CONCERN",..."iucnTaxonID":"204715926","code":"LC"} (https://api.gbif.org/v1/species/10754516/iucnRedListCategory). The Zoo and NatGeo 'least concern' lines are for pre-split E. electricus (Zoo: 'as of 2009') and don't cover this species.
How the table was made: a writer drafted the profile from these sources and logged each claim with its quote, a reviewer with nothing but this table checked every sentence said no more than its quote, and a script confirmed each quote appears word for word in the source. The method is in the site'sAbout page.