Electric Eels

Electric eels are one of the 500 types of fish that are capable of producing electricity. They live in shallow, muddy areas of Amazon and Orinoco rivers in South America. They are not endangered

Electric eels are among the most badass predators on planet Earth. How many other creatures can deliver a shock powerful enough to paralyze a horse? But their superpowers are even more impressive than we realized. These eels don’t just use electricity to attack, they use it to see.

That’s the conclusion of a fascinating study published today in Nature Communications. In a series of laboratory experiments, neurobiologist Ken Catania and colleagues show how electric eels “electrolocate” their prey after paralyzing it, using energy fields to locate and swallow hapless victims almost instantly.

The eel can use its electric attack simultaneously as a weapon and a sensory system,” Catania told National Geographic. “It’s sort of a science-fiction-like ability.

Electric eels, a relative of catfish, slink quietly about in the murky depths of the Amazon River, looking for ill-fated creatures on which to discharge their 600-volt weapon. We’ve known of the eel’s formidable hunting ability for decades, but the exact mechanics have proven difficult to study (you try capturing an 8 foot-long living taser and bringing it back to the lab—it ain’t easy).

Catania is more persistent than most. In a study published last year in Science, he showed that electric eels’ high voltage attacks can stimulate their prey’s motor neurons, causing involuntary muscle twitching. Using two or three small electric volleys, the eels will force prey to give away their location before charging up and delivering the paralyzing blow.

Electric eel honing in on an electrically conductive stimulus (red arrow), before initiating its suction-feeding strike. Image Credit: Catania et al. 2015

But how does the eel find its lunch once that prey is disabled? As Catania points out, electric eels will strike and engulf their victims lightning fast — usually within milliseconds.

Electricity figures in here, too, according to a series of laboratory experiments performed by Catania and his colleagues. National Geographic explains:

To understand what was happening, Catania brought electric eels into the lab and presented them with anesthetized fish that were insulated from the eel’s electroreceptors by plastic bags. With an electrode, Catania made the fish flinch, and the eel discharged its high-voltage attack. But then it didn’t seem to know what to do next—the eel lunged in the direction of movement in the water but didn’t attempt to suck the fish into its mouth.

Catania then put an electrically conductive carbon rod into the tank along with the fish. He made the fish flinch, and the eel attacked with a shock. Sometimes the eel started to move in the direction of the fish, but then it changed course to lunge at the rod wherever it had been placed in the tank. To the eel, the fish seemed to be in two places at once.

What these experiments are showing is that electric eels don’t just use voltage to immobilize prey: They follow electric fields, in order to track it. This places the eel in league with sharks, rays, and certain African fish as a predator that can electrolocate—an adaptation that’s similar to echolocation in bats and dolphins.

Interesting Electric Eel Facts

• Although they are called eels, they are more closely related to the catfish than to the common eels.
• They live in shallow, muddy water and come to the surface every 10 minutes because they breathe atmospheric air.
• Electric eels can reach 8 feet in length and weigh up to 44 pounds.
• Their long and cylindrical body can be white, black, blue, purple or grey in color.
• They are carnivores (meat-eaters) that eat other fish, amphibians, birds and small mammals.
• Electric eels are solitary animals (live on their own). Group of eels is called swarm.
• Electricity-producing organ takes 80% of their body. It is used both for defense against predators and for stunning of the prey.
• Electric eel has around 6000 cells (known as electrocyte) that produce electricity. They can generate a power of 600 volts, which is 5 time stronger than the electricity generated in the standard US wall socket.
• Electric eel can produce electric shock strong enough to knock down a horse.
• Man can die if an eel hits him with several electric shocks. Luckily, humans don't come in contact with eels often.
• 20 foot long eel can produce enough electricity to light 12 light bulbs.
• Since eels have poor eyesight, they generate low-level electric charge (up to 10 volts) that helps them see their surrounding and locate a prey.
• Mating is happening during dry season. Male uses saliva to make a nest for eggs. Female can lay up to 17000 eggs. Both parents take care of their young.
• Newly hatched eels eat small invertebrates but they also search nests of other eels and steal their eggs.
• Electric eel lives around 15 years in the wild and up to 22 years in captivity.

Sources : gizmodo.com & Images from google.com