Tropical Fish Gallery

Red Lionfish flares its deadly spines

Red Lionfish flares its deadly spines as a warning to the photographer not to get any closer, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

© Terry Moore/Stocktrek Images

Anatomy, Animal Themes, Animals In The Wild, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands, Caribbean Sea, Color Image, Coral, Danger, Deadly, Defense, Fear, Fish, Flaring, Horizontal, Lionfish, Nature, No People, One Animal, Outdoors, Photography, Poisonous, Protection, Pterois Volitans, Risk, Scorpaenidae, Scorpionfish, Sea, Sea Life, Species, Spine, Stinger, Striped, Swimming, Tropical Climate, Tropical Fish, Underwater, Wildlife

Blackfin icefish, Chaenocephalus aceratus, swimming under ice. Unlike other vertebrates, fish of the Date: 14-Nov-19

Electric eel, Electrophorus electricus. Concept image. The electric eel has three pairs of abdominal organs that produce electricity for lethal discharges that allow them to stun prey. In the electric eel, some 5, 000 to 6, 000 stacked electroplaques can make a shock up to 860 volts and up to 1 ampere of current. This level of current is reportedly enough to produce a brief and painful numbing shock likened to a stun gun discharge, which due to the voltage can be felt for some distance from the fish; this is a common risk for aquarium caretakers and biologists attempting to handle or examine electric eels. Electric eels use electricity in multiple ways. Low voltages are used to sense the surrounding environment. High voltages are used to detect prey and, separately, stun them. Pairs of high voltage pulses separated by 2 milliseconds are used to detect and locate prey by causing them to twitch involuntarily; the electric eel senses this movement. A string of high voltage pulses at up to 400 per second are then used to attack and stun or paralyze the target, at which point the electric eel applies a suction-feeding bite. Researchers argue artificial cells could be built that not only replicate the electrical behavior of electric eel cells, but also improve on them. Artificial versions of the eel's electricity-generating cells could be developed as a power source for medical implants and other microscopic devices. From Amazonas river

© Copyright Ardea - All Rights Reserved

Silver-cheeked toadfish, Lagocephalus sceleratus

Silver-cheeked toadfish, Lagocephalus sceleratus. Similar to other puffer fishes, the silver-cheeked toadfish is extremely poisonous if eaten because it contains tetrodotoxin in its ovaries and to a lesser extent its skin, muscles and liver, which protect

© Ardea - All Rights Reserved

Animal, Animals, Aquatic, Colourful, Dangerous, Deadly, Extremely, Fauna, Fish, Fishes, Lagocephalus Sceleratus, Marine, Nature, Ocean, Oceanic, Oceans, Pdo 040718, Puffer Fish, Reef Fish, Salt Water Fishes, Scene, Scenes, Sea, Sea Animal, Seas, Silver Cheeked Toadfish, Toadfish, Toadfishes, Tropical Fish, Underwater, Wildlife