Citation

Catania K. Science 2014; 346(6214): 1231-1234.

Affiliation

Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B, Box 35-1634, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.E-mail: ken.catania@vanderbilt.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science)

DOI

10.1126/science.1260807

PMID

25477462

Abstract

Electric eels can incapacitate prey with an electric discharge, but the mechanism of the eel's attack is unknown. Through a series of experiments, I show that eel high-voltage discharges can activate prey motor neurons, and hence muscles, allowing eels to remotely control their target. Eels prevent escape in free-swimming prey using high-frequency volleys to induce immobilizing whole-body muscle contraction (tetanus). Further, when prey are hidden, eels can emit periodic volleys of two or three discharges that cause massive involuntary twitch, revealing the prey's location and eliciting the full, tetanus-inducing volley. The temporal patterns of eel electrical discharges resemble motor neuron activity that induces fast muscle contraction, suggesting that eel high-voltage volleys have been selected to most efficiently induce involuntary muscle contraction in nearby animals.

Language: en