Atlantic torpedo (electric ray)
Tetronarce nobiliana
A big, slow electric ray that rests on the seabed, and no sighting is ever a promise.
Least Concern (IUCN, 2020) means it is not close to qualifying as threatened. It is caught as bycatch, and its population trend is not well known.
Length
Up to about 1.8 m (6 ft) long. Typical animals are smaller, roughly 0.6 to 1.5 m (2 to 5 ft)
Weight
Up to about 90 kg (200 lb)
Next to a person
The largest can be about as long as a tall adult, and as heavy as a heavy adult
What it eats
Mostly bony fish, including flatfish, eels and mullet, plus small sharks and some crustaceans. It stuns prey with an electric shock, then swallows it whole, head first.
Around people
Do not touch
How it lives
Found from shallow water down to about 800 m (2,600 ft), usually at 10 to 150 m. Young animals stay shallow, and adults in the Mediterranean are most common at 200 to 500 m. It is solitary, rests on the seabed by day and hunts at night. Females give birth to live young, up to 60 in a litter after about one year of pregnancy. Newborns are about 23 cm (9 in) long.
Where it goes
Reportedly makes long journeys in open water, often near the surface, and has been caught in mid-water nets. It is solitary and rests on the seabed by day, and it is active at night. The sources I read give no tracked routes.
We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.
Populations
Assessed as Least Concern worldwide (IUCN, 2020). It is caught by accident in trawls, longlines and nets and has no commercial value. The sources I read say population trends are poorly known. An older IUCN record, from 2004, listed it as Data Deficient.
Meet it respectfully
Never touch or handle it. A shock is painful and it can discharge when threatened. Watch from a distance, do not chase or block it, and do not feed or bait it. It often lies still on the seabed, so give resting animals plenty of room. I did not read any local viewing rules for this species, and no sighting is ever promised.
Fun fact
Tap the bulb to light it up.
It can give an electric shock of up to 220 volts.
Its electric organs make up about one sixth of its body weight.
It is the largest known electric ray.
Atlantic torpedo (electric ray) in the Ocean Atlas
Places we have researched where this animal is recorded. It is never guaranteed, and some places are for watching from the boat only.
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Cameroon
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Ireland
Liberia
New Zealand
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United Kingdom
United StatesSources for this page
- FishBase, 2026
- Wikipedia, 2026
- Fishes of Australia, 2026
- WoRMS, 2026
- GBIF and IUCN Red List category, 2026
Facts checked 5 October 2026. Photos: Unsplash licence, or Creative Commons as shown on each photo.
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