How electric eels double their zapping power

[Disir]

Slippery, slimy and beady-eyed, the electric eel looks like a remnant from the age of the dinosaurs. But its hunting tactics are far from primitive. Kenneth Catania, a biologist at Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University, has uncovered how the eel exploits simple physics to track and subdue its prey. He published his findings in two papers in October.

Native to South America, electric eels have tiny eyes, but barely use them – they live in murky waters and usually hunt at night. They navigate by emitting low-voltage electrical clicks, a little like the sonar chirrups emitted by bats.

But these clicks are slight compared to the short, high-voltage shocks they use to stun or kill their prey. Up to 80% of the electric eel’s body is made of electricity-generating cells called electrocytes. These cells are amped-up versions of the muscle cells in mammals’ bodies, which transmit the electric signals that cause the muscles to contract. In the eel, electrocytes are stacked, like batteries in a torch, and can produce shocks of up to 600 volts – enough to electrocute an adult human.
How electric eels double their zapping power

Those clicks are weird sounding.