Dangerous Creatures: Electric Eel

(South America)

   The electric catfish. This is one kind of cat you would not wish to cuddle up to!
   Eels come in all shapes, sizes and colours.
   Equipped with radar, and an organ that stuns with a 550-volt blast, the electric eel is indeed shocking.
   Baby eels don’t need a map to find their way through hundreds of miles of ocean.
   The electric ray, which is related to the shark, stuns its prey with two hundred volts of electricity.
   Video: The marks on an electric eel’s skin are not pimples. They’re electric receptors. These fish use electric pulses not only to stun their prey, but also to communicate with each other.
   Advice: You wouldn’t stick your finger into an electric socket, would you? So stay away from an electric eel. These creatures can send six hundred volts through your body. If the shock doesn’t kill you, it’ll certainly make your hair stand on end.

Next: An electric eel is not really a true eel, but rather just a different kind of fish. To see a true eel, look for a moray.