Electric Eels Can Remotely 'Tase' Hiding Prey [VIDEO]

The electric eel may very well be one of the most impressive hunters on Earth. New research has revealed that these living tasers not only stun their prey, but also force their next meal to reveal itself when hiding.

"If they're searching for [prey] hidden among rocks or in plants, having this ability to cause involuntary motion would be very useful," researcher Kenneth Catania explained in a recent University of Vanderbilt video.

Catania recently concluded a nine-month study of electric eels, which was published in the journal Science.

In this study, he describes how, when hunting, eels give of a pair of high voltage pulses around their immediate vicinity.

"Normally, you or I or any other animal can't cause all of the muscles in our body to contract at the same time. However, that is just what the eel can cause with this signal," he added in a statement.

Eels are also exceptionally sensitive to slight water movements, having been known to lash out at even the smallest disturbances. This sensitivity would quickly pick up on the induced twitch, revealing prey to the eel, even if it did not see it.

"If you take a step back and think about it, what the eel can do is extremely remarkable," said Catania. "It can use its electrical system to take remote control of its prey's body." (Scroll to read on...)

Its cover blown, most prey will try to run, but thanks to the electric eels' uncanny ability to stun, few prey will get far. Unlike the occasional high-voltage millisecond pulses (called doublets and triplets) given off while hunting, an attacking eel will release a volley of high frequency shocks.

Catania observed that these shocks will reach prey 10 to 15 milliseconds before the eel actually strikes, and high speed video footage showed that this ensures that the strike lands home with precision. That's because the shock actually temporarily paralyzes its victim, a lot like a stun gun.

However, while your average stun gun's intensity might be higher than an eel's shock, the number of pulses it can deliver in a short time doesn't even come close to what nature can pull off.

"A Taser delivers 19 high-voltage pulses per second while the electric eel produces 400 pulses per second," the researcher added - which is more than enough to ensure that a victim's nervous system is completely overwhelmed.

"These findings were a total surprise to me," biologist Jason Gallant, who studies electric fish but was not involved in the new research, told Science magazine. "The eel isn't just applying a voltage to the water and hoping everything dies. It's a very specific behavior that's obviously been acted on by selection to be refined."

"Now that we know what the mechanism of the eel's attack is," Catania added, "it's definitely easier to ponder how it evolved."

[Credit: Vanderbilt University]