itat at night (it's nocturnal), the electric fish orients itself by periodically emitting a weak electrical discharge:
This lower voltage can be used to "see" surrounding objects. Objects with a different conductivity will distort the electric field that the eel produces, thus making the eel aware of the object's presence.
After locating its prey with weak electrical pulses, E. electricus kicks it up a notch:
Once prey is found the electric eel will use a much larger electrical current to stun the fish.
Toothless, electric fish eat their prey by "open[ing] their mouths to create a suction," and swallowing the meal whole.
Able to produce a voltage as high as 650 volts and about 1 amp, the electric fish emits a strong, brief (2 milliseconds or less) shock when it is attacked by a predator. Although experts say the shock is rarely fatal by itself, it can kill some animals.
How Does it Produce Electricity?
E. electricus' nervous system controls its production of electricity:
Each electrogenic cell [electrocyte] carries a negative charge of a little less than 100 millivolts on its outside compared to its inside. When the command signal arrives [from a "command nucleus" in the nervous system], the nerve terminal releases a minute puff of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter.
Through nerves on one side of the cell, causing ion channels to open on that side. Sodium ions are able to rapidly enter the cell via these channels . . . [which] alters the equilibrium of the cell. To re-establish [it], potassium ions leave the cell on the other side,. . . .
A transient path with low electrical resistance connecting the inside and outside of the cell. Thus, each cell behaves like a battery with the activated side carrying a negative charge and the opposite side a positive one. Because the cells are oriented inside the electric organ like a series of batteries piled into a flashlight, the current . . . set[s] off an avalanche of activation that runs its course in just two milliseconds. . . [and] creates a short-lived current flowing a