You wouldn’t want to be in the vicinity of an electric eel and you know very well why. Who in their right minds would want to face a 600-volt shock inducing hunter? But this is not the only use they put their electric attacks to. They actually use these electric shocks to locate their prey. This was concluded in a study published in “Nature Communications” by neurobiologist Ken Catania.

Catania conducted a series of laboratory experiments to show how electric eels ‘electro-locate’ their prey after paralyzing it, using energy fields to locate and swallow their victims in an instant.
In the lab, Catania presented the electric eels brought into the lab with anaesthetized fish. These fish were insulated from the eel’s electro-receptors by plastic bags. With an electrode he then made the fish flinch causing the eel to discharge its high-voltage shock. But then the eel became clueless as to what it should do next.

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It did lung into the direction of the fish but didn’t attempt to swallow it. Then an electrically conductive carbon rod was put into the tank along with the fish. He again made the fish flinch and the eel attacked. But the fish became confused as sometimes it lunged towards the fish and sometimes moved towards the carbon rod assuming that the fish was at two different places. Actually what happens is, the 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. So in Catania’s words, “The eel can use its electric attack simultaneously as a weapon and a sensory system.” This quality of the eels is an adaptation similar to echolocation in bats and dolphins. Nature has always its multiple mysterious layers to be peeled off one by one!

Author:Technology Blog