Electricity In Animals | Electric eels
Electric eels
The name itself reminds every one of us about the crazy rope like fish with dazzling lightning bolts all around it as shown in cartoons and that's very close to the reality. (Not completely)
They produce electricity by using specialised organs, known as electric organs. These electric organs make up 2/3 of the eel's body. These organs are divided into three, depending on the nature of current they release. The hunter's electric organ and the main electric organ are used to generate high voltages of electricity, while the sach's electric organ is used to produce lower voltages of electricity. The reason for electricity being produced is the cells known as electrocytes, which are modified muscle cells or cells of neural origin. They have two sides, posterior side which has a motor neuron, and an anterior side which is slightly ruffled and undulating. its membrane has many tiny protein channels wich allow only sodium and potassium ions to flow in and out of the cell.
The electrocytes maintain a positive charge on the outside and a negative charge on the inside (relatively) by pumping out sodium+ and potassium+ ions. upon the instructions by the nervous system, the electrocytes create a dipole.
Because the cells are oriented inside the electric organ like a series of batteries piled into a flashlight, the current generated by an activated cell "shocks" any inactive neighbor into action, setting off a series of activation that runs its course in just two milliseconds or so. This practically simultaneous start-up creates a temporary current flowing along the eel's body. Electric eels live in water, which provides additional outlets for the current. So, they generate a larger voltage up to 860 volts, but gets divided, and results in a diminished current.
I still wonder how doesn't the Electric eel doesn't shock the whole water body.
That's because .........................
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