In order to survive, some fish use the method of discharge to feed or resist enemies. So far, three kinds of fish that can generate electricity have been found in the world: one is the electric catfish, which is produced in the African River and can emit a voltage of up to 350 volts; the other is the electric ray, which is produced in the Atlantic Ocean, and its power generation voltage is only 50 to 80 volts, but the current can reach 50 amperes, like a small generator. Another is the electric eel, which is produced in the Ocean of the Americas, so the electric eel is known as the "high voltage line" in the water.
Among these three kinds of discharge fish, people are most familiar with the electric eel, the electric eel is native to the Carnivorous fish in the Amazon River Basin of South America, often and piranhas and so on and called "Amazon X big dangerous species" Although the form is indeed very similar to the real eel, but the electric eel is not a member of the eel order, it belongs to the naked-backed fish order, because there is no dorsal fin and named, the order fish because it generally has a certain discharge ability is also called "electric eel", a recent paper published in the journal Nature Communications, Electric eels are divided into three types: volta electric eels, wattle electric eels, and electric eels. The morphological structure, voltage and distribution of the three types of electric eels are different, among which the voltage of the volt electric eel is the most powerful, which can reach 860 volts, which is the peak of the voltage that can be achieved by biological power generation.
What is the secret of electric eel power generation? The original electric fish have a set of power generation organs similar to our common battery structure, the electric eel power generation organs on both sides of the body, starting from the pectoral fin, all the way to the tail, when generating electricity, its current flows from the rear to the head, then meet the enemy with a frontal attack. It is evolved from muscle cells. After receiving a nerve signal, these cells can open the sodium channel on the cell membrane, so that the sodium ions in the cell fluid flow through the cell membrane in a directional manner, forming a strong positive charge current, the amount of electricity released can easily kill animals smaller than us, and sometimes kill large animals, a large individual female electric eel released a voltage of up to 860 volts, forming a current of 1 ampere (860 watts), enough to repel the vast majority of predators in the Amazon. Horses wading in rivers and cows swimming in the river can also be knocked unconscious.
At the same time, the fat layer in the body of the electric eel also forms a natural insulation protective sleeve, which can prevent them from falling victim to their own or other similar discharges. By controlling the contraction of the muscles, electric eels are able to emit weak or strong electricity according to their own needs, the former used to hunt small fish, and the latter is only used when encountering large predators. In an emergency, electric eels will take the initiative to attack predators, sticking their bodies to each other. In some records of electric eel killings, victims who swim in rivers drown due to paralysis caused by electric eel attacks. But if the electric eel is caught in the air, because the resistance of the air is greater than the resistance of its body, the discharge will be electrically transmitted to itself.
The electric eel is delicious and delicious, but its powerful current will deter us. Or the locals have experience, when hunting electric eels, they will drive a group of cattle and sheep into the water in advance, let the electric eels finish the electricity first, and then go into the water to fish, so that they will not be injured.
In addition to humans, there is only one animal that has preyed on adult electric eels, that is, the Amazon pufferfish, this clever freshwater dolphin will constantly pluck the electric eel to discharge and maintain a safe distance from it, so that for an hour or so electric eel will lose its ability to discharge due to fatigue and become food for sub-pufferfish. However, this time-consuming and laborious gameplay is mostly entertainment for sub-pufferfish, and in general, adult electric eels do not have normalized predators.