Electric Eels Pack an 860-Volt Punch

For over 250 years, scientists thought there was only one species of electric eel. Turns out, they were spectacularly wrong. In 2019, researchers exploring the Amazon basin discovered not one but two new species of electric eel hiding in plain sight. And one of them absolutely shattered the voltage record.

Electrophorus voltai - named after Alessandro Volta, inventor of the battery - can discharge up to 860 volts of electricity. That's roughly seven times the voltage of a standard US electrical outlet, and far more powerful than the 650-volt maximum previously recorded. It earned recognition from Guinness World Records as the most electric fish and most electric animal on Earth.

A Shocking Discovery

The record-breaking specimen was captured during an expedition to Brazil's Tapajós River by Associate Professor William Crampton. When researchers examined over 100 electric eels from across South America's Amazon Basin, DNA analysis revealed three genetically distinct species where everyone had assumed there was just one:

• Electrophorus electricus - the original species described by Carl Linnaeus in the 1700s
• Electrophorus varii - found in lowland Amazon regions
• Electrophorus voltai - the heavyweight champion, dwelling in fast-flowing highland rivers of the Brazilian Shield

These species diverged during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, evolving separately for millions of years while scientists lumped them all together as one.

Living Tasers

So what can you do with 860 volts? Plenty. Electric eels use their shocking ability to stun prey, defend against predators, and even navigate murky waters. An 860-volt jolt is powerful enough to knock a horse off its feet or send a human into muscle spasms and potential cardiac arrest.

The eels generate electricity using thousands of specialized cells called electrocytes stacked like batteries in their bodies. When threatened or hunting, they discharge these cells simultaneously, creating a brief but devastating electrical pulse.

Researchers have even documented electric eels hunting in packs, coordinating their attacks to herd and shock schools of fish - a behavior previously unknown in these creatures. With discoveries like these still emerging, who knows what other shocking secrets electric eels are hiding?