Electric eels innovative:

When it comes to unleashing their trademark zaps, electric eels employ an impressive and sophisticated set of tactics.

A study unveiled on Wednesday detailed how these dangerous denizens of the muddy waterways of South America’s Amazon and Orinoco basins can double the voltage of their jolts by curling their serpentine bodies to adjust the position of the positive and negative poles of their electric organ.

The scientist who conducted the research also described how the eels use electrical pulses as a radar system to track prey as well as to immobilize prey by causing strong, involuntary muscle contractions in an electrifying form of remote control.

Vanderbilt University neurobiologist Kenneth Catania said some have viewed electric eels as unsophisticated, primitive creatures with a single tool in the toolbox, shocking their prey to death, while in reality they manipulate their electric fields in complex ways that only now are being appreciated.

The new study, published in the journal Current Biology, reveals how the eels use a unique maneuver to ratchet up their jolt when attacking large or difficult prey.

The eel first bites the prey. It then curls its body around the prey in a way that places the negative pole its electric organ, located in the tail, close to the positive pole, located in its head. By bringing the two poles near one another, with the prey trapped in between, the eel more than doubles the voltage inflicted upon the prey. (RTRS)