Electric Eels "Tase" Their Prey
Eels deliver carefully modulated high voltage shocks that paralyze the muscles of the fish they hunt.
Electric eels can generate a tremendous jolt - upwards of 600 volts and 1 ampere of current. But just how they use their power has not entirely been understood by scientists, until now. Dr. Ken Catania, a neurobiologist and professor of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, has shown, in a new series of experiments, that their strategy is the same as the Taser devices used by law-enforcement. The eels have a two-step hunting strategy.
They prowl the waters of their Amazonian home, and when they suspect prey may be nearby, they send out a quick electrical pulse that causes hidden fish to twitch and reveal their location. They then send out a more powerful and sustained blast which simultaneously activates all of the motor neurons in the fish, causing a total body muscular contraction. The paralyzed fish is then easy prey.
Related Links
- Paper in Science
- Vanderbilt University release
- Not Exactly Rocket Science blog
- National Geographic story
Video from Vanderbilt University