On Thu, 23 Aug 2001 07:55:58 -0400, Lee Bell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Florida has it's own version of an electric ray, the Torpedo Ray. A full
>grown one is reportedly able to generate enough current to knock out and
>perhaps even kill a full grown human.  My only contact with them was
>while snorkeling on Florida's west coast.

Read the info on the link Ive provided below to see how much kick that
current can have.

<snip of the kiwi shears>... We released the ray who swam happily away
>to a life of shocking others. That's the only Torpedo Ray or, for that
>matter, electric creature of any kind I've ever seen in the wild.  As
>far as I know, they don't venture to the Atlantic side of the state and,
>because it is comparatively boring, this diver doesn't venture, at least
>for diving, to the Gulf side.

Out of curiousity I did some digging around to find out more about the
Torpedo Ray. I discovered they are definitely further a field than Lee knew
about. There is a pic of them in Paul Humann's book and a few folk have
mentioned them in their Turks & Caicos trip reports. These fellas certainly
get around.  Viv
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/programmes/tv/predators/picpops/pred_wildfile_ra
y.shtml