Friday, December 5, 2014

Electric eels deliver taser-like shocks

This article talks about how deadly an electric eel can really be. Many scientist have found that a six foot eel is capable of generating 600 volts. That is like getting shocked my an electrical outlet 5 times in a row. Another thing that scientist discovered whilst observing the eels is that they are ridiculously fast. The found that and eel could eat a small fish in a tenth of a second. A scientist named Catania had a slow-motion camera and found out that the eel releases 3 different electrical discharges. "Low-voltage pulses for sensing their environment; short sequences of two or three high-voltage millisecond pulses (called doublets or triplets) given off  while hunting; and volleys of high-voltage, high-frequency pulses when capturing  prey or defending themselves from attack." The eel uses these discharges when it catches its prey so the fish that it catches gets electrocuted before the eel begins to eat it. A taser works by overwhelming the nerves that control the muscles. This is exactly what the eels do so that their prey can't move. 


Vanderbilt University. (2014, December 4). Electric eels deliver taser-like shocks.ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 5, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141204140610.htm

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