The gymnotus, or electric eel, is a common denizen of the stagnant pools
and sluggish lagoons of the Llanos of Venezuela. It is known to the
natives under the more suggestive name of arimna or something that
deprives of motion.
Our first experience with this curious Animal Torpedo was on the borders
of the Llanos, a few days’ journey to the south of Valencia. The pack
mules, usually very slow, had preceded us, during the noon hour, while
we had leisurely taken luncheon. In the course of an hour, we caught up
with them, as they had reached a sluggish estuary of a neighboring
river. Before we were in hailing distance, we could see, from the wild
and frantic gesticulations of the muleteer, that something unusual had
occurred. It proved to be an attack of electric eels upon the first
mule, which had attempted to ford the lagoon. The animal had nearly
reached the opposite shore before the attack was made, and thus, the
first mule had escaped with only a few shocks from the invisible
torpedoes. The other pack mules, just entering the stream, were turned
upon savagely by the concealed serpents, and were wildly and frantically
turning back, when we came upon the scene. Their distended nostrils and
bulging, terrified eyes, with excited snorting and plunging, would have
made a perfect picture of agonized terror. Their suffering, fortunately,
was of short duration, as they soon gained the shore and dashed away
madly over the prairie. The first mule, which had crossed, terrified by
the electric shocks received, had retreated from the lagoon and, in a
state of great fright, had plunged into a browsing herd of cattle,
dangling its swaying pack and causing a frightened stampede among the
half-wild herd. The latter, ignorant of the immediate peril, rushed
toward the lagoon ford, and, if those in front hesitated, they were
persistently prodded by those from behind. In a moment all were in the
midst of their dreaded enemies in the water. A scene followed which is
hard to describe. The poor brutes reared, bellowed and moaned; they
gored each other in their agony, while their startled eyes seemed ready
to jump from their sockets.
As the herd was numerous, the greater portion soon struggled out, and,
with tails reared high in the air, they plunged, like maddened demons,
across the prairie. Three cows and a heifer remained in the pool with
the eels. The former, much exhausted, finally escaped from their
tormentors, but the heifer, unable to withstand the repeated attacks,
made one last effort, and, with a gasp, sank below the surface.
We spent some time in collecting our terrified pack mules and scattered
baggage, finally crossing the bayou at a shallow point some distance
above the ford. In the meantime, one of the mozos speared one of the
eels, as they had become very sluggish and were swimming aimlessly about
the surface, after having spent so much of their galvanic force. The
captured specimen was about two and a half feet in length and would
weigh about eight pounds. It had an olive green color and the upper part
of the head was mingled with red. Two rows of yellow spots are placed
symmetrically along the back, each spot containing an execretary
aperture, which were its galvanic batteries. It possessed an enormous
swimming bladder, which accounts for its great agility and swiftness in
the water. The creature looks more like a fish than an eel, and is very
difficult to capture in nets, owing to its agility and a habit of
burying itself in the mud when frightened. The electric action of the
eel depends entirely upon its own will and a shock can be given whether
it is touched by one or both hands to complete the circuit. When
wounded, their power is almost destroyed and they are able to give only
feeble shocks. Humboldt describes putting both feet upon a
newly-captured specimen, which rendered him entirely powerless for a
considerable time. The shock was so great that he suffered all day from
pains in his knee and back.
Though caught easily with a harpoon, the natives have such an intense
dread of them that it is difficult for naturalists to secure specimens.
The peons have an idea that one can escape the shock, while going
through waters infested by the eels, if he carries a chew of tobacco in
his mouth. This supposed influence of tobacco upon animal electricity is
not entirely without some scientific basis, but in the form of a quid in
the mouth it is, of course, purely imagination.
It is not an uncommon thing for a large colony of these eels, to attack
and drown a horse in mid-stream, which they will leisurely devour
afterwards. It is recorded that, during the patriot wars in Venezuela, a
large army marching through the Llanos was seriously disabled in
crossing a bayou infested with these mischievous creatures. At Damarara,
British Guiana, in the early days, these eels were employed by the
medical fraternity, to cure paralytic troubles, just as the torpedo fish
was employed by the ancient Greeks.
Andrew James Miller.