Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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I
measured some that were from five feet to five feet three inches long;
and the Indians assert that they have seen them still larger.
We found
that a fish of three feet ten inches long weighed twelve pounds. The
transverse diameter of the body, without reckoning the anal fin, which
is elongated in the form of a keel, was three inches and a half. The
gymnoti of the Cano de Bera are of a fine olive-green. The under part
of the head is yellow mingled with red. Two rows of small yellow spots
are placed symmetrically along the back, from the head to the end of
the tail. Every spot contains an excretory aperture. In consequence,
the skin of the animal is constantly covered with a mucous matter,
which, as Volta has proved, conducts electricity twenty or thirty
times better than pure water. It is in general somewhat remarkable,
that no electric fish yet discovered in the different parts of the
world, is covered with scales.* (* We yet know with certainty only
seven electric fishes; Torpedo narke, Risso, T. unimaculata, T.
marmorata, T. galvanii, Silurus electricus, Tetraodon electricus,
Gymnotus electricus. It appears uncertain whether the Trichiurus
indicus has electrical properties or not. See Cuvier's Regne Animal
volume 2. But the genus Torpedo, very different from that of the rays
properly so called, has numerous species in the equatorial seas; and
it is probable that there exist several gymnoti specifically
different.
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