How Do Electric Eels Shock?

Words to Know

Electricity

A kind of energy that can zap, light, and power things

The electric eel makes electricity inside its body.

Electrocytes

Tiny body cells that work like little batteries

Thousands of electrocytes fire together to make a shock.

Volt

A way to measure how strong electricity is

The strongest eel makes 860 volts — a huge zap!

Knifefish

The real kind of fish an "electric eel" actually is

Surprise — an electric eel is really a knifefish!

Check What You Learned

Fun Facts

• Electric eels generate electricity inside their bodies using thousands of specialized cells called electrocytes, which are stacked like tiny batteries.

  Source: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

• When the electrocytes discharge all at once, they release a strong electric shock.

  Source: Smithsonian

• The strongest species, Volta's electric eel, can produce up to 860 volts — the strongest electric discharge of any known animal.

  Source: Nature Communications, 2019 / Smithsonian

• For comparison, a typical car battery is only about 12 volts, so the eel's jolt is very powerful.

  Source: Smithsonian Magazine

• Electric eels are not true eels — they are a type of knifefish that lives in murky waters of South America.

  Source: Smithsonian

• They use strong shocks to stun prey and defend themselves, and weak electric pulses like radar to sense their surroundings in cloudy water. They must surface to breathe air about every 10 minutes.

  Source: Smithsonian