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Zitierempfehlung
Alexander von Humboldt: „The gymnotus, or electric eel“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1819-Baron_Humboldts_Personal_Heft1-21-neu> [abgerufen am 27.04.2024].
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| Titel | The gymnotus, or electric eel | ||||||
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| Jahr | 1834 | ||||||
| Ort | London | ||||||
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Nachweis in: The Saturday Magazine 4:114 (12. April 1834), S. 144.
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| Sprache | Englisch | ||||||
| Typografischer Befund | Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Schmuck: Kapitälchen. | ||||||
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Identifikation |
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Statistiken
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|144|
|Spaltenumbruch|
The
Gymnoti, or Electrical Eels, which resemblelarge water serpents, inhabit several streams of SouthAmerica, and abound also in the Oroonoko, theAmazon, and the Meta, but the strength of thecurrent, and the depth of the water in these largerivers, prevent their being caught by the Indians.They see these fish less frequently than they feelelectric shocks from them, when swimming or bathingin the river. To catch the Gymnoti with nets isvery difficult, on account of the extreme agility ofthe fish, which bury themselves in the mud likeserpents. Roots are sometimes thrown into thewater to intoxicate or benumb these animals, but wewould not employ these means, as they would haveenfeebled the gymnoti: the Indians, therefore, toldus, that they would “fish with horses.” We found itdifficult to form an idea of this extraordinary mannerof fishing; but we soon saw our guides return fromthe savannah, which they had been scouring for wildhorses and mules. They brought about thirty withthem, which they forced to enter the pool.
The extraordinary noise caused by the horses’hoofs, makes the fish issue from the mud, andexcites them to combat; they swim on the surfaceof the water, and crowd under the bellies of thehorses and mules. A contest between animals of sodifferent an organization, furnishes a very strikingspectacle. The Indians, provided with harpoons andlong slender reeds, surround the pool closely; andsome climb upon the trees, the branches of whichextend horizontally over the surface of the water.By their wild cries, and the length of their reeds,they prevent the horses from running away, andreaching the bank of the pool. The eels, stunned bythe noise, defend themselves by the repeated dischargeof their electric power, and during a long timethey seem to prove victorious. Several horses sinkbeneath the violence of the invisible strokes, whichthey receive from all sides, and stunned by the forceand frequency of the shocks, disappear under thewater. Others, panting, with mane erect, and haggardeyes, expressing anguish, raise themselves, and en-deavour to flee from the storm by which they areovertaken. They are driven back by the Indiansinto the middle of the water; but a small numbersucceed in eluding the active vigilance of the fishermen.These regain the shore, stumbling at every step, andstretch themselves on the sand, exhausted withfatigue, and their limbs benumbed by the electricshocks of the gymnoti. In less than five minutestwo horses were drowned. The eel being five feet
|Spaltenumbruch|long, and pressing itself against the belly of thehorses, makes a discharge along the whole extent ofits electric organ. The horses are probably onlystunned, not killed, but they are drowned fromthe impossibility of rising, amid the prolongedstruggles between the other horses and the eels.
We had little doubt, that the fishing would termi-nate by killing, successively, all the animals engaged;but, by degrees, the impetuosity of this unequalcontest diminished, and the wearied gymnoti dispersed.The mules and horses appeared less frightened; theirmanes no longer bristled, and their eyes expressedless dread. The Gymnoti, which require a long restand abundant nourishment to repair what they havelost of galvanic force, approach timidly the edge ofthe marsh, where they are taken by means of smallharpoons, fastened to long cords.
The Gymnotus is the largest of electrical fishes; Imeasured some that were from five to five feet threeinches long, and the Indians assert that they haveseen still longer. We found that a fish of three feetten inches long weighed twelve pounds; the trans-verse diameter of the body was three inches fivelines. The Gymnoti of Cano de Bera are of a fineolive-green; the under part of the head is yellow,mingled with red. Along the back are two rows ofsmall yellow spots, from which exudes a slimymatter that spreads over the skin of the animal, andwhich, as Volta has proved, conducts electricitytwenty or thirty times better than pure water. It is,in general, somewhat remarkable, that no electricalfish yet discovered in the different parts of the world,is covered with scales.
The Gymnoti, which are objects of the most livelyinterest to the philosopher of Europe, are dreadedand detested by the natives. Their flesh furnishespretty good food, but the electric organ fills thegreater part of the body, and this being slimy anddisagreeable to the taste, is carefully separated fromthe rest. The presence of the Gymnoti is also con-sidered as the principal cause of the want of fishin the ponds and pools of the Llanos, where theykill many more fish than they devour. The Indianstold us, that when they take young alligators andgymnoti at the same time in very strong nets, thelatter never display the slightest trace of a wound,because they disable the young alligators beforethey are attacked by them. All the inhabitants ofthe waters dread the Gymnoti; lizards, tortoises,and frogs, seek the pools, where they are securefrom their action. It became necessary to changethe direction of a road near Uritucu, because theseelectrical eels were so numerous in one river, thatthey every year killed a great number of mules ofburden as they forded the river.
It would be temerity to expose ourselves to thefirst shocks of a very large and strongly irritatedGymnotus. If by chance you receive a stroke beforethe fish is wounded, or wearied by a long pursuit,the pain and numbness are so violent, that it isimpossible to describe the nature of the feeling theyexcite. I do not remember having ever receivedfrom the discharge of an electrical machine, a moredreadful shock, than that which I experienced byimprudently placing both my feet on a Gymnotusjust taken out of the water. I was affected the restof the day with a violent pain in the knees, andin almost every joint.
[Humboldt’s
Personal Narrative.]
THE GYMNOTUS, or ELECTRIC EEL.