Six Different Lines of Electric Fish Evolved Separately

The water is full of strange, occasionally dangerous, creatures. The electric eel is among the most bizarre. They can produce up to 500 volts at one amp of electricity (other sources suggest 600 volts). This electric fish is not the only one, though. And other people with the same talent are unrelated to eels. In reality, at least six different species of electrified fish have undergone independent evolution. These creatures all employ the same genes; they just happened to do so at various times and locations around the planet.

While electric rays reside in the Atlantic ocean, eels are freshwater animals. They seem virtually the complete opposite of an eel, being wide and flat like all rays. However, they have relatively similar electricity generating capacities. Additionally, the notion that the varied electrical species shared a common ancestor makes sense is contradicted by the fact that most fish do not possess the capacity to create electricity. The ability developed individually and uniquely. It only repeated that action 12 times.