Electric Eels Create Taser-Like Shocks to Remotely Disable a Prey's Muscles (VIDEO)

The electric eel can deliver enough of a shock to knock down a full-grown horse. Now, scientists have discovered that this eel actually has an electroshock system that is actually similar to that of a Taser. The findings reveal a bit more about this unusual animal and may have implications for future technologies.

Electric eels use high-voltage electrical discharges to locate and then incapacitate their prey. Located in the Amazon, this scaleless fish can grow as much as six feet in length and deliver as much as 600 volts of electricity, which is five times that of a U.S. electrical outlet. Until now, though, no one had examined how the eel's electroshock system actually worked.

In order to learn a bit more about this animal, the researchers began observing the eels' behavior. They found that the eel's movements are incredibly fast; it can strike and swallow a worm or small fish in about a tenth of a second. The researchers, therefore, set up a high-speed video system that could detect the eel's electric signals.

The scientists recorded three different types of electrical discharges in all: low-voltage pulses for sensing their environment, short sequences of two or three high-voltage millisecond pulses while hunting, and volleys of high-voltage, high-frequency pulses when capturing prey or defending themselves from attack.

What's interesting is that this system works a bit like a Taser. A Taser works by overwhelming the nerves that control the muscles in the target's body, causing the muscles to involuntarily contract. The eels, similarly, could deliver pulses that could produce strong muscle contractions.

"Normally, you or I or any other animal can't cause all of the muscles in our body to contract at the same time," said Kenneth Catania, one of the researchers, in a news release. "However, that is just what the eel can cause with this signal."

Eels are extremely sensitive to water movements. By sending out pulses, they can cause their prey's muscles to contract, which then causes the prey's body to twitch and then cause water movement that the eels can sense. In other words, eels use these signals to locate prey.

"If you take a step back and think about it, what the eel can do is extremely remarkable," said Catania. "It can use its electrical system to take remote control of its prey's body. If a fish is hiding nearby, the eel can force it to twitch, giving away its location, and if the eel is ready to capture a fish, it can paralyze it so it can't escape."

The findings are published in the journal Science.

Want to learn more? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.

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