As if growing up to 2 meters and being able-bodied to get an electric shock tantamount to that of a Taser is n’t impressive enough , researchers have confirmed a more unusual aspect about the electric eel . It seems that the animal , which is n’t actually an eel but a type of tongue Pisces , is n’t contented with just shocking its aggressor underwater , but that under the right conditions they will jump out of the H2O to stupefy predator .
More than 200 year ago , when the famous Prussian naturalist and geographerAlexander von Humboldtmade the first scientific exploration to describe Latin America he face many difficulties . But one of his most famous clash occurred on March 19 , 1800 , when he trace how locals caught electric eel by force back horses into the river , where the fish would then leap out of the water and stun the wretched fauna . This spectacular description chop-chop entered into fable , but in the one C that followed no one had check this unusual behavior repeated , leading most to opine that von Humboldt exaggerated his electric experiences with the eel .
Yet it seems that there is far more truth to these accounts than anyone had previously given credit for . “ The first time I read von Humboldt ’s tale , I think it was all bizarre,”explainsKenneth Catania , who has described this behavior for the first fourth dimension in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . “ Why would the eel set on the horses instead of swimming away ? ”
The eel jumps up to place its Kuki-Chin on the " vulture " before shocking it . Kenneth Catania / Vanderbilt University
He actually corroborated these original report in the first stead by fortuity . Studying the eels at Vanderbilt University , he was attempting to catch them from their tank using a metal rimmed net ( “ In hindsight , plausibly was n’t the best blueprint to use , ” he notes ) . He receive that every so often , the eel would jump from the weewee and weigh their chin against the net profit , while at the same time generating a series of high - electric potential pulse rate .
By measuring the power of the shocks used during this galvanizing behavior , Catania was able to determine that the eel used a different scandalous formula than they used to daze quarry . He recover that they only spring from the water to attack living beast that are partially submerged , and did so with more frequency when the water system level in their army tank was lowered . This , hint Catania , implies that the behavior is used to protect themselves against land - based predators when the eels feel cornered or threatened , such as in the dry time of year when the water level are much downcast . This is also the time when some of the eel breed .
But why leap from the water , rather than just sidling up tight ? Well , it seems that the higher up the interloper they can get , the more knock-down the jolt they redeem . When shock in the water , the electric current dissipates through the water , but by impinge on the mark with its Kuki and then shocking , the current move around through the target ’s physical structure . “ This allow the eel to render shock with a maximal amount of power to part - submerged solid ground animals that occupy their soil … [ while ] also allow[ing ] them to wire a much larger portion of the invader ’s body,”saysCatania .
So after over two centuries of question and despite great involvement in the animals , it seems that von Humboldt has finally been proven to be right , and that galvanic eels really do jump from the urine to attack predators .
master paradigm credit : Josh More / Flickr CC BY - NC - ND 2.0
