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A SCIENCE NOTE

Electric eels are fascinating creatures both biologically and electrically. Here’s the science behind them and how dangerous they can be to humans:

Despite the name, electric eels aren’t actually eels. They’re a type of knifefish and belong to the genus Electrophorus.

There are three known species: Electrophorus electricus, E. voltai, and E. varii, found mostly in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins.

Electric eels have specialized electric organs that take up about 80% of their body.

These organs contain thousands of electrocytes, which are modified muscle cells.

When the eel wants to generate electricity, the electrocytes discharge simultaneously, creating a voltage.

E. voltai can discharge up to 860 volts, making it the strongest known bioelectricity generator in the animal kingdom.

They use two main types of discharges:

Low-voltage discharges (under 10 volts): For navigation, communication, and detecting prey (like radar).

High-voltage discharges: To stun or kill prey and for self-defense.

If provoked or stepped on, they may attack defensively with a strong shock.

A single shock can knock a person off their feet in water, potentially causing drowning.

Muscle spasms

Temporary paralysis

Respiratory issues

In rare cases: cardiac or respiratory arrest, especially if someone has a heart condition or is in water.

Deaths from electric eel attacks are extremely rare but possible, usually due to drowning, not electrocution itself.

Multiple shocks in a row can increase the risk dramatically.

They can jump out of water to deliver more effective shocks (behavior observed in the wild).

Electric eels can self-regulate the intensity of their shock depending on the size and location of their target.

If you’re swimming in electric eel territory (murky rivers in South America), it’s smart to be cautious. But outside of that, you’re probably safe from these natural tasers.

Human activities—including climate change—pose growing threats to electric eels.

Electric eels rely on specific oxygen levels in warm, slow-moving freshwater.

Warmer water holds less oxygen, which stresses their metabolism.

They breathe air with their mouths periodically, but prolonged hypoxia (low oxygen) can still weaken or kill them.

Altered rainfall patterns and more extreme flooding or droughts due to climate change disrupt the Amazon River system.

Eels depend on stable wet and dry seasons to feed, breed, and navigate.

Floodplain changes may reduce breeding grounds or strand them in isolated pools.

Logging, agriculture, and development reduce the quality of eel habitat by:

Increasing silt and pollution in the water

Reducing the amount of cover and prey

Fragmenting the habitats they need to move between feeding and spawning areas

Industrial and agricultural runoff can alter the chemical composition of water, affecting the electrical conductivity eels rely on for navigation and hunting.

Hydroelectric dams (especially in the Amazon basin) block natural migration routes and flood critical habitat.

Dams also change electrical gradients in water, potentially confusing or disorienting electric eels.