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(English) How Do Fish Make Electricity - Eleanor Nelsen (DownSub - Com)

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18 views4 pages

(English) How Do Fish Make Electricity - Eleanor Nelsen (DownSub - Com)

Uploaded by

sjsjsj091224
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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3+In 1800, the explorer

Alexander von Humboldt

witnessed a swarm of electric eels


leap out of the water

to defend themselves
against oncoming horses.

Most people thought the story


so unusual that Humboldt made it up.

But fish using electricity is more common


than you might think;

and yes, electric eels are a type of fish.

Underwater, where light is scarce,

electrical signals offer ways


to communicate,

navigate,

and find—plus, in rare cases, stun—prey.

Nearly 350 species of fish


have specialized anatomical structures

that generate
and detect electrical signals.

These fish are divided into two groups,

depending on how much


electricity they produce.

Scientists call the first group


the weakly electric fish.

Structures near their tails


called electric organs

produce up to a volt of electricity,


about two-thirds as much as a AA battery.

How does this work?

The fish's brain sends a signal through


its nervous system to the electric organ,

which is filled with stacks of hundreds

or thousands of disc-shaped
cells called electrocytes.

Normally, electrocytes pump out sodium


and potassium ions

to maintain a positive charge outside


and negative charge inside.

But when the nerve signal arrives


at the electrocyte,

it prompts the ion gates to open.

Positively charged ions flow back in.

Now, one face of the electrocyte


is negatively charged outside

and positively charged inside.

But the far side


has the opposite charge pattern.

These alternating charges


can drive a current,

turning the electrocyte


into a biological battery.

The key to these fish's powers


is that nerve signals are coordinated

to arrive at each cell


at exactly the same time.

That makes the stacks of electrocytes


act like thousands of batteries in series.

The tiny charges from each one


add up to an electrical field

that can travel several meters.

Cells called electroreceptors


buried in the skin

allow the fish to constantly sense


this field

and the changes to it caused


by the surroundings or other fish.

The Peter’s elephantnose fish,


for example,

has an elongated chin


called a schnauzenorgan

that's riddled in electroreceptors.

That allows it to intercept signals


from other fish,
judge distances,

detect the shape and size


of nearby objects,

and even determine whether


a buried insect is dead or alive.

But the elephantnose


and other weakly electric fish

don't produce enough electricity


to attack their prey.

That ability belongs


to the strongly electric fish,

of which there are only


a handful of species.

The most powerful strongly electric


fish is the electric knife fish,

more commonly known as the electric eel.

Three electric organs span


almost its entire two-meter body.

Like the weakly electric fish,

the electric eel uses its signals


to navigate and communicate,

but it reserves its strongest


electric discharges for hunting

using a two-phased attack that susses out


and then incapacitates its prey.

First, it emits two


or three strong pulses,

as much as 600 volts.

These stimulate the prey's muscles,


sending it into spasms

and generating waves


that reveal its hiding place.

Then, a volley of fast,


high-voltage discharges

causes even more intense


muscle contractions.

The electric eel can also curl up


so that the electric fields
generated at each end
of the electric organ overlap.

The electrical storm eventually


exhausts and immobilizes the prey,

and the electric eel


can swallow its meal alive.

The other two strongly electric fish


are the electric catfish,

which can unleash 350 volts

with an electric organ


that occupies most of its torso,

and the electric ray, with kidney-shaped


electric organs on either side of its head

that produce as much as 220 volts.

There is one mystery in the world


of electric fish:

why don't they electrocute themselves?

It may be that the size


of strongly electric fish

allows them to withstand their own shocks,

or that the current passes out


of their bodies too quickly.

Some scientists think that special


proteins may shield the electric organs,

but the truth is, this is one mystery


science still hasn't illuminated.

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