electric eel

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Researchers Make Surprise Discovery About Electric Eels

Volta's electric eels join the relatively small number of fish that hunt in packs

(Newser) - A new study has revealed a big surprise about electric eels—they hunt in packs. Prior to the study published in Ecology and Evolution , scientists thought the creatures hunted on their own, zapping and then eating fish solo, reports the BBC . But in a Brazilian river in the Amazon, researchers...

Electric Eel Keeps This Aquarium's Christmas Tree Lit

Miguel Wattson is providing the juice for seasonal lights at the Tennessee Aquarium

(Newser) - Visitors to the Tennessee Aquarium may be shocked to learn that an electric eel named Miguel Wattson is lighting up a Christmas tree, per the AP . A special system connected to Miguel's tank enables his shocks to power strands of lights on a nearby tree, according to a news...

Scientists' New Find Is Literally Shocking

New species of electric eel can deliver most powerful jolt of any animal

(Newser) - The electric eel just got more electric. A newly discovered species found in the Amazon can inflict an 860-volt jolt—the strongest of any animal, say researchers. How strong is that? Science reports you'd experience a jolt of up to 240 volts if you stuck a fork in a...

Electric Eels Use 'Remote Control' to Paralyze Prey

Scientists say the fish are the only ones known to do that

(Newser) - Electric eels have long been known to deliver low-voltage pulses as a form of natural sonar—but now researchers out of Vanderbilt University have discovered the eels also deliver high-voltage shocks, which they use to paralyze their prey—from a distance, with no physical contact—in just three milliseconds. It'...

Scientists Unravel Mystery of Electric Fish's Jolt

6-foot electric eel is 6-inch fish attached to a 5.5-foot cattle prod

(Newser) - For the first time, scientists have assembled the complete genome of an electric fish—the potent South American electric eel—and in doing so have identified something much larger: Exactly how this fish, along with electric fish from other families, evolved to create their jolt-delivering organ. The findings, out of...

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