Electric Eels

Electric eels are amazing fish that can make electricity in their own bodies. They live in the muddy rivers of South America. Even though they are called eels, they are really a kind of knifefish. Electric eels can grow up to eight feet long.

Living Batteries

An electric eel has three special organs that make electricity. These take up most of its long body. The eel can give off a shock of up to 860 volts. That is much stronger than the power in a wall outlet. Electric eels use their shocks to hunt and to protect themselves.

How They Live

Electric eels live in slow-moving rivers and swamps. The water is often dark and muddy. Their eyes are not very good, so they use weak electric signals like a radar to feel around. When they find a fish, they zap it with a big shock. The shock stuns the fish so the eel can eat it.

Fun Facts

• Electric eels have to come up to the surface to breathe air.
• A new kind of electric eel found in 2019 gives the strongest shock of any animal.
• Young electric eels eat small invertebrates, while adults eat fish.

Did You Know?

One electric eel shock is strong enough to knock down a horse. But the shock only lasts for a tiny moment, about two-thousandths of a second.