This is the genuinely shocking moment a Brazilian fisherman is zapped senseless when he is tricked into grabbing an electric eel caught in his net.

Video footage shot in Campos Novos, in the state of Roraima, shows one fisherman Jose Carvalho, 33, as he holds up the powerful eel by the net, careful to avoid touching it.

But pal Jorge da Silva, 58, wades across the rainforest river and snatches the eel, holding it aloft with his bare hand in the clip filmed on 17th December.

Moments later Jorge suffers a massive electric shock, keeling over in the water, and he is only saved when his pal pulls him back to the surface and knocks the eel from his hand.

Furious, the zapped fisherman aims a vicious kick at the eel as his friends jeer and laugh hysterically as he gathers in the net.

Jose then runs across the river to join friends Jailson Sousa, 25, and Raimundo Lima, 33. On the bank as the footage ends.

The clip, which recently emerged on social media, has reportedly clocked up more than five million views.

Stunned Fisherman Gets Covered In Squid Ink

Jorge told local media that he did not need to be taken to hospital and recovered quickly after the shock.

He said: “I like fishing, I keep catching fish with my hands. I’ve been electrocuted a lot, but they had never knocked me down before.”

Jorge added: “But everything went well, in the end. We had a lot of laughs, and then we continued fishing normally.”

Brazil is home to the most powerful electric eels in the world.

One, Electrophorus voltai, generates three times the electric power found in a wall socket.