Animal News (Except Bigcats)

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2 New  Electric fish/Eel species that are more powerful than the Poraquê discovered in the Amazon.

https://folhabv.com.br/noticia/CIDADES/Capital/Nova-especie-de-peixe-eletrico-emite-descarga-de-860-volts/57873

The 2 new species are Electrophorus varii and Electrophorus voltai and they can generate an electric discharge of 860 volts compared to the 650 volts from the already known Poraquê turning them to be the strongest generator of bioelectricity animals.

They also got different skull shapes.

*This image is copyright of its original author

New species. Carlos David de Santana got shocked alot by capturing many Poraquês (Photo by Douglas Bastos)

*This image is copyright of its original author

 Electrophorus varii in the Javari river.


In order to capture and search specimens of the electric fish poraquê, the Brazilian researcher Carlos David de Santana had to enter streams in the Amazon and, even wearing rubber gloves, some shocks were inevitable.

To capture and search specimens of the electric fish poraquê, Brazilian researcher Carlos David de Santana had to enter streams in the Amazon and, even wearing rubber gloves, some shocks were inevitable.

The five-year research resulted in the discovery of two new species of electric fish - one that is capable of discharging up to 860 volts, the highest voltage ever recorded on an animal. Until then, the record was 650 volts with the already known Poraquê species (Electrophorus electricus).

Associated researcher at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institute, in Washington DC, USA, Santana has just published the discovery in an article in the journal Nature Communications together with a group of several scientists, including several Brazilians.

Poraquê is an electric fish that lives in South America and can reach 2.5 meters in length. There are about 250 types of electric fish, which produce weak discharges, used for navigation and communication. The Poraquê is the only one that produces strong electric discharges, used for hunting and defense. They are produced by three electrical organs in the body.

Until now, it was believed that there was only one species of why: Electrophorus electricus, described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus. But two new species were discovered, differentiated by the voltage of the electrical discharges emitted and a process of DNA sequencing.

The "fact that two new species were discovered 250 years after the first of the group was described is an example of the enormous biodiversity that exists in the Amazon," says Santana.

"And not only in the Amazon. We only know a small portion of the planet's biodiversity. And we know even less about the biology of these species - animals and plants," he says. "And we cannot let that be destroyed. It is a very big loss in the long run."


Poraquê ( the one with 650 volts ) electrocuting shock/killing a Caiman that tried to prey on it in Brazil.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Poraquê.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Poraquê and Amazon Rainforest.



https://www.diarioonline.com.br/noticias/para/534840/pesquisadores-descobrem-peixe-eletrico-mais-poderoso-que-o-poraque

*This image is copyright of its original author

Researcher Wolmar B. Wosiacki with one of the two new species of electric fish from the Amazon.



In the article, the scientists present Electrophorus varii and Electrophorus voltai, with a surprising detail: one of them, E. voltai, has the capacity to generate an electric discharge of 860 volts, making it the strongest bioelectricity generator to date.

In addition to the importance of describing the new electric fish, the advisor says that “understanding the diversity of pigs can reveal a wide spectrum of enzyme varieties with bioelectrogenic function of great interest to science, such as the production of natural nanoconductors and natural capacitors and batteries hydrogel, which can energize medical implants ”.

The research steps took into account patterns of genetic, morphological and ecological data of the species, providing descriptions that now serve as a reference for future studies and possible applications of this knowledge.

The two new species discovered are distributed in the Xingu and Tapajós rivers, and for the time being they are not considered threatened, but the current situation of environmental crisis in the Amazon may change this status.

"The Xingu River is being destroyed by the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, which will affect the poraquê populations that live in the Xingu," says Santana. "And the biodiversity of the Amazon is under threat as a whole. It is really a pity that this is happening, with so many species yet to be discovered."

According to Fapesp, there are several groups that study applications of research carried out with poraquês, including the analysis of the use of enzymes for the production of medicines and a model for creating batteries.

Currently, other groups are studying possible applications of research on why, whether in analysis of enzymes produced by electrical organs, in order to test them as components for the production of drugs for possible treatments of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, or as a model for the creation of batteries for prostheses and sensors implanted in humans, for example.

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