HOW CAN AN ELECTRIC EEL ZAP THINGS?!

WRITER:

Eels are fascinating critters. An eel is much more than just an answer in your crossword puzzle or a sushi dish that is pretty good (although not as good as tuna or yellowtail). Nevertheless, one variety particularly draws our attention: the electric eel.

Native to South America, electric eels aren’t really eels; they are knifefish. By any name, they can certainly generate electricity, which they use to incapacitate fish and crustaceans for their lunch.

But how do they do it? The website AskaNaturalist.com says, “The cells of all living things generate electrical charges. In an electric eel (Electrophorus electricus), thousands of modified muscle cells in the thick tail are lined up like batteries in a flashlight. Though each cell generates only about 0.15 volts, in a large electric eel, six thousand cells may be stacked to make one giant battery that can generate as much as 600 volts for a short pulse.” That is 50 times the shocking power of the 12-volt battery in your car.

Eels can reach giant proportions. National Geographic states an eel can reach a length of eight feet and weigh more than 40 pounds.

The internal makeup of electric eels includes three organs that produce electricity. Susana Cortazar of the Miami Metro Zoo explains, “The Sachs organ, located near the head, produces the weak electric charge used to communicate and orient themselves to their environment. The Main and Hunter’s organs produce the much stronger electric charge used to stun and paralyze their prey. And since they are electricityproducing fish, their bodies are like a battery — the head is positive and the tail is negative. Only 20 percent of their body consists of vital organs and the remaining

80 percent is devoted to the electricity-producing ones.”

While the eels do produce quite an electrical wallop, the shock generated is so brief that the chances of a human fatality are rare.

It’s an open question on whether or not eels shock themselves when firing their electrical burst. No studies have been done, but it is possible that eels do shock themselves but have built up a tolerance so they are not incapacitated.

When discussing eels we have to mention another famous eel, although not an electric one. This eel was the inspiration for the great Italian love song made famous by Dean Martin. You remember the song: When you’re down by the sea and an eel bites your knee, that’s a moray!

FRED HILTON spent 36 years as the chief public relations officer/spokesman for James Madison University in Virginia and 10 years prior as a reporter and editor for The Roanoke Times in Roanoke, Virginia. He is now happily retired in The Villages with his interior designer wife, Leta, their Cadillac Escalade golf cart, and their dog, Paris. (Yes, that makes her Paris Hilton).