Mondo Knows Facts
An electric eel can generate shocks exceeding 600 volts
Three specialized electric organs fill most of an electric eel body.
Electric eels are actually knife fish that possess thousands of modified muscle cells called electrocytes stacked like batteries. When threatened or hunting, these electrocytes discharge simultaneously to stun prey and deter large river predators in Amazonian fresh waters.
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Tags: electric-eel, fish, electricity
An electric eel can generate shocks exceeding 600 volts: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Three specialized electric organs fill most of an electric eel body. The figure is taken from Natural History Museum, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a animals fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Animals shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.