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The shock from a young electric eel feels like accidentally touching a horse fence. A big one is more like getting tasered — by nine of those devices at once.
Vanderbilt University researcher Ken Catania knows because he stuck his arm into a tank with small eel 10 times. It was the only way to get accurate measurements of the circuit created by animal, arm and water. Measuring the shock from those interactions allowed him to solve an equation he can extrapolate to measure the power released by bigger eels, which can grow to 8 feet or longer.
Catania, Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences, studies the neurobiology of predators and prey and last year proved the validity of a controversial 200-year-old account of eels leaping out of Amazonian waters to shock horses. But documenting their leaping ability left him wondering about the resistances and current for each component of an attack.
Read more at Vanderbilt University
Image: A series of photos captures Finless, a juvenile electric eel, jumping out of the water to shock Catania’s arm.
Credit: Ken Catania / Vanderbilt University
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