An Optimized Biological Taser: Electric Eels Remotely Induce or Arrest Movement in Nearby Prey

Abstract

Despite centuries of interest in electric eels, few studies have investigated the mechanism of the eel's attack. Here, I review and extend recent findings that show eel electric high-voltage discharges activate prey motor neuron efferents. This mechanism allows electric eels to remotely control their targets using two different strategies. When nearby prey have been detected, eels emit a high-voltage volley that causes whole-body tetanus in the target, freezing all voluntary movement and allowing the eel to capture the prey with a suction feeding strike. When hunting for cryptic prey, eels emit doublets and triplets, inducing whole-body twitch in prey, which in turn elicits an immediate eel attack with a full volley and suction feeding strike. Thus, by using their modified muscles (electrocytes) as amplifiers of their own motor efferents, eel's motor neurons remotely activate prey motor neurons to cause movement (twitch and escape) or immobilization (tetanus) facilitating prey detection and capture, respectively. These results explain reports that human movement is ‘frozen' by eel discharges and shows the mechanism to resemble a law-enforcement Taser.