The Slithering Super-Battery
Despite their name, electric eels aren't actually eelsâthey are giant "knife fish" that can grow up to 2 metres long! They have a truly shocking superpower: their bodies are filled with thousands of tiny cells that act like little batteries. When an electric eel wants to hunt or defend itself, it can release a blast of 600 to 860 volts of electricity. That is more than five times the power of a standard wall outlet! They even use tiny pulses of electricity as a kind of underwater radar to "see" in the dark, muddy water. Learn more!
Wee Ones
An electric eel is long and thin, like a piece of spaghetti. Is its body shaped more like a round ball (a circle) or a long, straight line?
Little Kids
To find its way in the dark, an electric eel sends out a "click" of electricity every 2 seconds. If you count by 2s for every click, what number comes after 2, 4, and 6?
Big Kids
A single electric eel has about 6,000 special cells that act like tiny batteries. If two eels are swimming together, how many of these "battery cells" do they have in total?
The Sky's the Limit
One zap from an electric eel can reach 860 volts. If we write this voltage in scientific notation, which is a number between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of 10, what would it be?