''Electrophorus varii'' is a species of

electric eel The electric eels are a genus, ''Electrophorus'', of neotropical freshwater fish from South America in the family Gymnotidae. They are known for their ability to stun their prey by generating electricity, delivering shocks at up to 860 volts ...

found in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Taxonomy

It was previously classified within ''

Electrophorus electricus ''Electrophorus electricus'' is the best-known species of electric eel. It is a South American electric fish. Until the discovery of two additional species in 2019, the genus was classified as the monotypic, with this species the only one in the ...

'' when that species was considered the only one in the genus ''

Electrophorus In electromagnetism, an electrophorus or electrophore is a simple, manual, capacitive, electrostatic generator used to produce charge via the process of electrostatic induction. A first version of it was invented in 1762 by Swedish professor Jo ...

'', but a 2019 analysis described it and '' E. voltai'' as distinct species based on both their deep genetic divergences and differences in the

voltage Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to m ...

produced by each species. It is also thought to be the most basal member of the three ''Electrophorus'' species, diverging during the late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

. It is named in honor of American

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Richard Peter Vari Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

Distribution

It is found throughout the lowland habitats of the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

and in some streams in the

Guiana Shield The Guiana Shield (french: Plateau des Guyanes, Bouclier guyanais; nl, Hoogland van Guyana, Guianaschild; pt, Planalto das Guianas, Escudo das Guianas; es, Escudo guayanés) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a ...

, in contrast to the other two species in the genus, which are adapted to only upland

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

habitats. It inhabits turbid rivers with little oxygen and sandy or muddy bottoms.

Description

This species closely resembles ''E. electricus'', but lacks the clear band along the body that is usually present in ''E. electricus''. This species produces the second-highest maximum voltage of the three ''Electrophorus'' species, at about 572 volts.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q67230048 Gymnotidae Electrophoridae Strongly electric fish Freshwater fish of Brazil Fish of French Guiana Freshwater fish of Ecuador Freshwater fish of Peru Freshwater fish of Colombia Taxa named by Carlos David Canabarro Machado de Santana Taxa named by Wolmar B. Wosiacki Taxa named by William Gareth Richard Crampton Taxa named by Mark Henry Sabaj Pérez Taxa named by Casey B. Dillman Taxa named by Raimundo N. Mendes-Júnior Taxa named by Natália Castro e Castro Fish described in 2019