Electric Ray

Fascinating facts about the Electric Ray

• A single Atlantic torpedo can produce up to a kilowatt of electricity at 170–220 volts, with electric organs containing about half a million jelly-filled plates arranged in up to 1,083 hexagonal columns, delivering pulses in rapid trains of around 12 bursts each lasting 0.03 seconds, and can fire trains of over 100 pulses.
• Weighing as much as a small adult human (up to 90 kg) and stretching 1.8 m long, the Atlantic torpedo is the biggest electric ray on Earth, yet most individuals are only 0.6–1.5 m and 30 lb. Its massive size lets it carry a pair of electric organs that make up one-sixth of its body weight, giving it the muscle to stun prey as big as a 2-kg salmon. Its sheer bulk and shock power illustrate why size matters even in the deep sea.
• Female Atlantic torpedoes give birth after a full year of gestation, producing up to 60 pups in a single summer litter. The embryos first live off yolk and later receive “uterine milk,” a protein-rich histotroph, before emerging at 17–25 cm long. Such a long, nutrient-intensive pregnancy explains the species’ slow recovery potential when fishing removes adults.
• Juvenile torpedoes spend their early years hidden on sandy or muddy flats at just 10–50 m depth, while adults become pelagic, roaming the open ocean down to 800 m. This shift from bottom-dwelling to open-water life means the species relies on both coral reef habitats for youngsters and deep-sea ecosystems for adults, linking two very different parts of the marine world.
• The electric shock of an Atlantic torpedo can knock a diver unconscious, even though it rarely kills. Ancient Greeks and Romans used live rays to treat gout and headaches, and the animal later gave its name to naval mines. Its potent discharge continues to inspire technology and medicine, proving that nature’s inventions can echo through centuries of human innovation.

At a glance

About the Electric Ray

The Atlantic torpedo (Tetronarce nobiliana) is the largest electric ray, reaching 1.8 m (6 ft) in length and weighing up to 90 kg (200 lb). Its nearly circular pectoral disc is 1.2 times as wide as it is long, edged by a straight front margin and a dark brown-to-gray dorsal surface that may show a few diffuse spots. Smooth-rimmed spiracles sit behind small eyes, and two unequal dorsal fins crown a stout tail that ends in an equilateral-shaped caudal fin. Juveniles cling to sandy or muddy flats at 10–50 m depth, often near coral reefs, while adults abandon the bottom for the open ocean, ranging from the surface to 800 m (2,600 ft). This nocturnal, solitary predator prowls the night waters, resting half-buried by day and springing into action when prey passes overhead. Its diet is dominated by bony fish, flatfishes, salmon, eels, mullet, and it will also take small sharks and crustaceans, using a rapid burst of up to 220 volts from kidney-shaped electric organs to stun victims before swallowing them whole. A surprising trait lies in its electric organ architecture: half a million jelly-filled plates are arranged in over a thousand vertical hexagonal columns, allowing a well-fed adult to generate up to a kilowatt of power in a train of 12-plus pulses, a biological battery that rivals early naval torpedoes.

More fish to discover

Browse Feravox