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Click here for a printable version of this page.
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This is an electric eel.
They may have disgusting mouths but did you know that they don't have any teeth?
So how do they kill their victims?
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Well, electric eels have a series of batteries in their bodies. These store and generate electricity.
When the eel is hungry, it approaches a fish and when close, releases an electrical charge from his tail. This kills the fish.
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So Stephen and Gail put the eel to the test.
The coloured lightbulbs on the top of the tank are connected to probes which, when they pick up current discharged by the eel, should light up! |
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Result!
Two bulbs lit, then four!
That's over 200 volts of electricity from one eel - amazing!
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The bigger the eel, the bigger the resulting shock.
This one is only 45cm but in the wild they can grow up to 2.5m and generate up to 650 volts - enough power to light up three houses.
Shockingly brilliant.
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