Fresh Water Fish Gallery

Blackfin icefish, Chaenocephalus aceratus, swimming under ice. Unlike other vertebrates, fish of the Date: 14-Nov-19

Electric eel, Electrophorus electricus. Concept image. The electric eel has three pairs of abdominal organs that produce electricity for lethal discharges that allow them to stun prey. In the electric eel, some 5,000 to 6,000 stacked electroplaques can make a shock up to 860 volts and up to 1 ampere of current. This level of current is reportedly enough to produce a brief and painful numbing shock likened to a stun gun discharge, which due to the voltage can be felt for some distance from the fish; this is a common risk for aquarium caretakers and biologists attempting to handle or examine electric eels. Electric eels use electricity in multiple ways. Low voltages are used to sense the surrounding environment. High voltages are used to detect prey and, separately, stun them. Pairs of high voltage pulses separated by 2 milliseconds are used to detect and locate prey by causing them to twitch involuntarily; the electric eel senses this movement. A string of high voltage pulses at up to 400 per second are then used to attack and stun or paralyze the target, at which point the electric eel applies a suction-feeding bite. Researchers argue artificial cells could be built that not only replicate the electrical behavior of electric eel cells, but also improve on them. Artificial versions of the eel's electricity-generating cells could be developed as a power source for medical implants and other microscopic devices. From Amazonas river

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Antarctic toothfish, Dissostichus mawsoni. It's the largest midwater fish in the Southern Ocean, it Date: 14-Nov-19

Cookiecutter shark, Isistius brasiliensis. Ventral view. The name cookiecutter shark refers to its feeding habit of gouging round plugs, as if cut out with a cookie cutter, out of larger animals. Marks made by cookiecutter sharks have been found on a wide variety of marine mammals and fishes, as well as on submarines, undersea cables, and even human bodies. It also consumes whole smaller prey such as squid. Cookiecutter sharks have adaptations for hovering in the water column and likely rely on stealth and subterfuge to capture more active prey. Its dark collar seems to mimic the silhouette of a small fish, while the rest of its body blends into the downwelling light via its ventral photophores. When a would-be predator approaches the lure, the shark attaches itself using its suctorial lips and specialized pharynx and neatly excises a chunk of flesh using its bandsaw-like set of lower teeth. Atlantic Ocean Cookiecutter shark, Isistius brasiliensis. Ventral view. The name cookiecutter shark refers to its feeding habit of gouging round plugs, as if cut out with a cookie cutter, out of larger animals. Marks made by cookiecutter sharks have been found on a wide variety of marine mammals and fishes, as well as on submarines, undersea cables, and even human bodies. It also consumes whole smaller prey such as squid. Cookiecutter sharks have adaptations for hovering in the water column and likely rely on stealth and subterfuge to capture more active prey. Its dark collar seems to mimic the silhouette of a small fish, while the rest of its body blends into the downwelling light via its ventral photophores. When a would-be predator approaches the lure, the shark attaches itself using its suctorial lips and specialized pharynx and neatly excises a chunk of flesh using its bandsaw-like set of lower teeth. Atlantic Ocean

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