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The gymnoti approached the bank, where Guapo fished them out, not to eat although they are often eaten. There was not a spark of electricity in them now. The barbasco had cured them of that; any one might have handled them with safety, as there was not a charge left in their whole battery.
When fish are struck, or any animals which enter the pools inhabited by gymnoti to drink, or cool their bodies, heated by the burning sun of the Llanos they become stupified, and thus easily fall a prey to the electrical tyrant. The natives of Venezuela employ a cruel mode of catching the creatures, which, notwithstanding their nature, they use as food.
The gymnoti of the Cano de Bera are of a fine olive-green. The under part of the head is yellow mingled with red. Two rows of small yellow spots are placed symmetrically along the back, from the head to the end of the tail. Every spot contains an excretory aperture.
"Fish, my friend, they really are," observed the doctor, "though known as gymnoti, or electric eels; and truly glad I am that I came to see them caught." The men were armed with harpoons and long slender rods. They now collected the horses and mules, and with loud shouts drove them into the lake.
These experiments furnish many results somewhat different from those I collected on the gymnoti. It is probable that the cause of these anomalies is owing rather to the inequality of electric power in the two fishes, than to the different disposition of their organs. Though the power of the torpedo cannot be compared with that of the gymnotus, it is sufficient to cause very painful sensations.
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