What was an electric eel called before electricity was invented?

Son of The Household Cavalry

Something shocking no doubt Dec 17 02, 11:40 PM

Friar Tuck

there are features that give gymnotiform fishes a knife-like appearance, and are the source of their common names in many languages, including 'knifefish' or 'electric eel' in English, and 'cuchillo' (knife) or 'anguilla' (eel) in Spanish. They are also the source of many of the Latin names ascribed to these fishes, including Gymnotus (naked back), Apteronotus (without fin on back), and Sternopygus (breast rump). The shimmering appearance of the undulating anal fin, and their nocturnal habits, may have been the origin of the name 'sarap%F3' (ghost) used by the Tupi-Guarani indigenous Amazonian peoples. Dec 18 02, 12:11 AM

Friar Tuck

Baron Alexander von Humboldt (September 14, 1769-May 6, 1859) was a Prussian naturalist and explorer who explored much of Central and South America. Humboldt and his friend, the French medical doctor/botanist Aime-Jacques-Alexandre Goujoud Bonpland (1773-1858), explored the coast of Venezuela, the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers, and much of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico (1799-1805). On their many expeditions, Humboldt and Bonpland collected plant, animal, and mineral specimens, studied electricity (including discovering the first animal that produced electricity, Electrophorus electricus, the electric eel). This probably means that the eel was only known by names in the local language prior to this. Dec 18 02, 12:13 AM

Kainantu

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