Electric eel might be the stuff of nightmares for some , but are they really electric – and do they have the great power to give you a painful zap ? We cave in down just watt make these eels so shocking .
What is an electric eel?
Electric eelsare one of three specie in the genusElectrophorus . They belong to not to the “ true ” eels in the order Anguilliformes – which contains everyone ’s preferred themoray – but to a different ordering called Gymnotiformes , also recognize as the knifefishes . With slender bodies and tapered backside , electric eels are more closely related to carp and wolffish .
Electric eel are beefy , with organic structure that can measure2.5 meters long(8 feet ) , and press 20 kilograms ( 45 pound sign ) . These eel live in and around the Amazon and the Orinoco basin in South America . While they have gills , electric eel are air breathers and get 80 percentage of their atomic number 8 through their mouths .
How do electric eels generate electricity?
Their telling bodies also house three snazzy organs that avail the Pisces the Fishes make their own electrical energy . These are called the main organ , the Hunter ’s organ , and the Sach ’s electronic organ ; they also contain around 6,000 specialised cells calledelectrocytes . These electrocytes can dispatch power at the same time when the fish is under threat or attacking prey of its own .
“ Electric eel are like living battery , ” explain Dr Rupert Collins , Senior Curator of Fishes at theNatural History Museum , London . “ They have stack of modified muscleman jail cell called electrocytes that have both a positive and a negative side . When the prison cell are triggered , it discharge an electric impulse into the circumvent body of water . ”
So how can an electric eel daze prey but not appal itself in the mental process ? Well , nobody really knows for certain but the best guess is that thewater surroundingthe eel absorbs most of the current generated by the cells . The electric current also only flows for around 2 milliseconds , lay down it likely not long - hold out enough to do terms to the eel itself .
Typically , eels generate around 600 V of electricity , but a discharge of 860 V was put down fromone study , both of which are enough to kill a human . death from electric eel electric shock are extremely rare but multiple shocks can stimulate respiratory difficulties and even make your heart to stop . This , added to the fact that you ’re likely in the water when faced with an eel , add together to the other liveliness - endanger problem of drowning , if the eels do n’t get you first , the water supply might .
