The Shocking Predatory Strike Of The Electric Eel By Kenneth Catania

“The Shocking Predatory Strike of the Electric Eel” by Kenneth Catania addresses electric eels (Electrophorus electricus) have the ability to sense desired preys and fight against undesired predators. Since the body of these fishes are composed of electrolytes, they are capable of this action by releasing high voltage electrical discharges. The discharges then invade the targeted prey’s muscles and causes involuntary actions. Kenneth Catania conducted an experiment to see how the electrical eels carry out the electric discharge mechanisms on targeted preys and the effects it has on the prey. According to Catania, electrical eels “emit three distinct types of electric organ discharges” (Catania, 2014, p. 1231). These discharges include low voltage pulses, pairs or triplets of high

Each type is stimulated during different situations. The low voltage pulses is stimulated which allows them to detect their environment, the pairs or triplets high voltage pulses are produced during hunting, and the high frequency volleys of high voltage pulses are conducted when capturing prey or fight against a predator. To collect his data, Catania captured electric eels and put them in natural habitats in labs. In the first experiment, he saw the eels produced a high frequency discharge volleys, the preyed fish were immobile just milliseconds after being exposed to the electric organ discharge. Figure 1. in his article suggest that if the eel did not produced the electric discharge, then it will never be able to imprison the fast moving fish, which shows the significant of this mechanism to the electric eels.