Electric eels use high-voltage to track fast-moving prey

Catania, Kenneth C.

doi:10.1038/ncomms9638

Nat Commun

2015

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9638

|Get access via publisher |Summarize |Cite

|

Sign up to set email alerts

Electric eels use high-voltage to track fast-moving prey

Kenneth C. Catania

¹

Abstract: Electric eels (Electrophorus electricus) are legendary for their ability to incapacitate fish, humans, and horses with hundreds of volts of electricity. The function of this output as a weapon has been obvious for centuries but its potential role for electroreception has been overlooked. Here it is shown that electric eels use high-voltage simultaneously as a weapon and for precise and rapid electrolocation of fast-moving prey and conductors. Their speed, accuracy, and high-frequency pulse rate are reminiscent… Show more

Help me understand this report

Cited by 53 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

1

Mentioning

26

Contrasting

0

Unclassified

0

Order By: Relevance

“…In the author's experience, nonconductors do not elicit this defensive behavior. This is consistent with the observation that small conductors are attacked as prey, whereas small nonconductors are ignored [Catania, 2015]. Large conductors are apparently interpreted as large animals.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Electrical Potential of Leaping Eels

Catania

¹

2017

Self Cite

Get access via publisher Add to collection Cite

Exaggerated anticipatory anxiety is common in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Neuroimaging studies have revealed altered neural activity in response to social stimuli in SAD, but fewer studies have examined neural activity during anticipation of feared social stimuli in SAD. The current study examined the time course and magnitude of activity in threat processing brain regions during speech anticipation in socially anxious individuals and healthy controls (HC). Method Participants (SAD n = 58; HC n = 16) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during which they completed a 90s control anticipation task and 90s speech anticipation task.

“…In the author's experience, nonconductors do not elicit this defensive behavior. This is consistent with the observation that small conductors are attacked as prey, whereas small nonconductors are ignored [Catania, 2015]. Large conductors are apparently interpreted as large animals.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Electrical Potential of Leaping Eels

Catania

¹

2017

Self Cite

Get access via publisher Add to collection Cite

Exaggerated anticipatory anxiety is common in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Neuroimaging studies have revealed altered neural activity in response to social stimuli in SAD, but fewer studies have examined neural activity during anticipation of feared social stimuli in SAD. The current study examined the time course and magnitude of activity in threat processing brain regions during speech anticipation in socially anxious individuals and healthy controls (HC). Method Participants (SAD n = 58; HC n = 16) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during which they completed a 90s control anticipation task and 90s speech anticipation task.

“…The behavior described in this investigation was serendipitously discovered during research into electric eel predatory behavior and sensory abilities (12)(13)(14)(15). For these previous investigations, eels were transferred from a home cage to an experimental chamber with a net that had a metallic rim and handle.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recently, the eel's electric organs have provided key insights into biochemistry and the evolution of ion channels (43,44). The present study is part of a recent series (12)(13)(14)(15) that shows electric eels have been selected not only for extreme anatomical and physiological traits but also for remarkable behaviors that allow them to use electricity to maximal effect.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Leaping eels electrify threats, supporting Humboldt’s account of a battle with horses

Catania

¹

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

Get access via publisher Add to collection Cite

Exaggerated anticipatory anxiety is common in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Neuroimaging studies have revealed altered neural activity in response to social stimuli in SAD, but fewer studies have examined neural activity during anticipation of feared social stimuli in SAD. The current study examined the time course and magnitude of activity in threat processing brain regions during speech anticipation in socially anxious individuals and healthy controls (HC). Method Participants (SAD n = 58; HC n = 16) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during which they completed a 90s control anticipation task and 90s speech anticipation task.

“…[41,42] Afterward he further proposed that the electric eel is capable of precise and rapid electro-localization of fast-moving prey while using high pressure as a weapon, with potential roles in electroreception, which provides new insights into the evolution of electric fish. [43] Noteworthily, when electric eels wrestle with large prey, they usually curl their tails and pin the prey between heads and tails that are closer to each other as positive and negative poles. [44] This curling behavior at least doubles the strength of the electric field to increase the effective voltage delivered to the prey without any change in the actual output of their organ.…”

Section: The Bioelectrical Behavior Of Electric Eelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electric Eel Biomimetics for Energy Storage and Conversion

Xiao

¹

,

Mei

²

,

Deng

³

et al. 2023

Get access via publisher Add to collection Cite

Exaggerated anticipatory anxiety is common in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Neuroimaging studies have revealed altered neural activity in response to social stimuli in SAD, but fewer studies have examined neural activity during anticipation of feared social stimuli in SAD. The current study examined the time course and magnitude of activity in threat processing brain regions during speech anticipation in socially anxious individuals and healthy controls (HC). Method Participants (SAD n = 58; HC n = 16) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during which they completed a 90s control anticipation task and 90s speech anticipation task.

Scite is an AI-powered platform that helps researchers discover and evaluate scientific literature through Smart Citations, showing whether studies support or contradict a claim. Now part of Research Solutions, Scite has indexed 1.6B+ citations, partners with 30+ publishers, and serves 2M users worldwide.

Contact Info

customersupport@researchsolutions.com

10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614

Henderson, NV 89052, USA