Electric eels exert remote control over prey

A new study shows that the eels use electric shock to exert a form of remote control over their victims, causing fish that may be hiding to twitch, thus exposing their location or inducing involuntary muscle contraction to incapacitate their prey. In laboratory experiments, Catania showed how the electrical discharges remotely activate the prey’s neurons, or nerve cells, that control the muscles. The eel then delivers a full blast of a longer, high-voltage shock to immobilize the prey through involuntary muscle contraction much like a Taser enabling easy capture. Electric eels, with serpentine bodies and flattened heads, can reach lengths of 6 to 8 feet. They possess electric organs with specialized cells called electrocytes that serve as biological batteries and can generate an electric discharge of up to 600 volts to subdue prey or defend against predators. Although they are not known to kill people, they are capable of incapacitating humans, horses and obviously fish during their electric discharge. Eels also use electricity in a third way, periodically giving off a low-voltage pulse that seems to work as sort of a radar system for navigating dark and murky water