Common torpedo (ocellate torpedo)

How it lives

The common torpedo lives on sandy flats and seagrass beds, mostly at 2 to 70 m, and sometimes down to 400 m. Its electric organs can give a shock of up to 200 volts. Females give birth to live young. In the Mediterranean, mating is from December to February and pups are born in late August and September after about 4 to 6 months, in litters of up to 19. Newborns are about 8 to 10 cm long. Elsewhere, litters of 3 to 21 are reported. Off West Africa, gestation lasts 6 to 8 months and litters can reach 28.

Where it goes

The sources I read do not describe any migration. It is a solitary, mostly nocturnal ray that spends much of its time resting on the seabed, often buried in sand, and moves by waving its body in a slow wave. Its nerves stop working below about 15 C, which may limit its electric ability in cold seasons.

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

Worldwide it is Vulnerable (assessed 2020, with the decline criterion). The main concern is heavy and growing fishing across its range. It is caught by accident in trawls and trammel nets, is mostly discarded because it has little value, and is kept in some countries such as Senegal. The IUCN notes that fishing is heavy in its range but there is no catch data specific to this ray. In the Mediterranean it was assessed as Least Concern in 2016. It is more common in the western Mediterranean and off North Africa than off southern Europe, and it is encountered less often than other electric rays in European waters.