Jerry Bradley, age ls; of West Columbia, for his question;

How many volts has the electric eel?

A fair sized house needs wiring to carry about 110 volts of electricity.. A nine foot electric eel carries 200 to 300 volts of electricity in his storage battery. He often carries much, much more. Maybe we could use one of these natural power plants to light our home and. run the toaster and vacuum cleaner. All he needs is a plentiful supply of slow moving fresh water well stocked with frogs and small fish.

This seems like a good idea for cutting down on the electricity bill. But it would not work. Our homes need a steady supply of electricity. The electric eel turns his power on and off to suit himself. He__ __ discharges his power in short, sudden spurts. He can keep this up for a long time, but the discharges of electricity vary between 1/30th and 1/300th part of a second. This irregular flow of current would be very annoying. There is another reason why the electric eel cannot be tamed and put to work for us. Most of our household gadgets are made to run on A.C, or alternating current. The electric eel discharges only direct current, or D.C.

The electric eel can deliver a shock powerful enough to stun a grown man. The blow would be delivered in the water and the unlucky man might become unconscious and drown. This is one reason why it is dangerous to swim or fall out of a boat along the backwaters of the Amazon or Orinoco rivers of South America. These are the native waters of Mr. Electric Eel, the living power plant.

Actually, the electric eel is not a true eel at all. He is a cousin of the minnow, the carp and the catfish.      One of his catfish cousins who lives in the Nile also gives off electric shocks, though less powerful.

A fair sized electric eel is three to four feet long, though giants of more than nine feet have been found. The color is drab grey with red or yellow markings on the underside. Four fifths of the lazy, snaky body is tail.

Though he lives in the water, the electric eel must breathe air. He would drown if he did not come up to gulp a breath every few minutes. In the water, he can swim both backwards art forwards, though he is never in a. hurry. This amazing animal has no backbone, no teeth and no scales. After all, he needs only his electricity to defend himself: The battery is in his tail. It is a large area of flesh somewhat like the nerve tissues found in other animals.

The battery is used to electrocute frogs and small fish, which are later eaten at leisure. It is thought that the electric impulses are also used as a kind of radar. Milder impulses are sent out whenever the electric eel moves through the water. He may use these mild impulses to detect solid objects in his path.