The shocking predatory strike of the electric eel

Science ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 346 (6214) ◽  
pp. 1231-1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Catania
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Contraction ◽  
Motor Neurons ◽  
High Voltage ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Neuron Activity ◽  
Involuntary Muscle ◽  
Electric Eel ◽  
Involuntary Muscle Contraction ◽  
Series Of Experiments

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.

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

2015 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth C. Catania
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Motor Neuron ◽  
Motor Neurons ◽  
High Voltage ◽  
Voluntary Movement ◽  
Human Movement ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Prey Detection ◽  
Suction Feeding

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.

Analysis and Design of 3.3 kV IGBT Based Three-Level DC/DC Converter with High-Frequency Isolation and Current Doubler Rectifier

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (25) ◽  
pp. 103-108
Author(s):  
Dmitri Vinnikov ◽  
Tanel Jalakas ◽  
Indrek Roasto
Keyword(s):  
High Voltage ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Power Converter ◽  
Rolling Stock ◽  
Analysis And Design ◽  
Auxiliary Power ◽  
Igbt Modules ◽  
Isolation Transformer ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Generation Power

Analysis and Design of 3.3 kV IGBT Based Three-Level DC/DC Converter with High-Frequency Isolation and Current Doubler RectifierThe paper presents the findings of a R&D project connected to the development of auxiliary power supply (APS) for the high-voltage DC-fed rolling stock applications. The aim was to design a new-generation power converter utilizing high-voltage IGBT modules, which can outpace the predecessors in terms of power density, i.e. to provide more power for smaller volumetric space. The topology proposed is 3.3 kV IGBT-based three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) half-bridge with high-frequency isolation transformer and current doubler rectifier that fulfils all the targets imposed by the designers. Despite an increased component count the proposed converter is very simple in design and operation. The paper provides an overview of the design with several recommendations and guidelines. Moreover, the simulation and experimental results are discussed and the performance evaluation of the proposed converter is presented.

scholarly journals Simulation-Based Power-Loss Optimization of General-Purpose High-Voltage SiC MOSFET Circuit Under High-Frequency Operation

IEEE Access ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 23786-23794
Author(s):  
Abhishek Kar ◽  
Mitiko Miura-Mattausch ◽  
Mainak Sengupta ◽  
Dondee Navaroo ◽  
Hideyuki Kikuchihara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Voltage ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Power Loss ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Simulation Based ◽  
High Frequency Operation

scholarly journals The third form electric organ discharge of electric eels

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Xu ◽  
Xiang Cui ◽  
Huiyuan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
High Voltage ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
Electric Organ Discharge ◽  
Electric Organ ◽  
The Third ◽  
Electric Organs ◽  
Electric Eel ◽  
New Finding ◽  
Discharge Behavior ◽  
Unique Species

AbstractThe electric eel is a unique species that has evolved three electric organs. Since the 1950s, electric eels have generally been assumed to use these three organs to generate two forms of electric organ discharge (EOD): high-voltage EOD for predation and defense and low-voltage EOD for electrolocation and communication. However, why electric eels evolved three electric organs to generate two forms of EOD and how these three organs work together to generate these two forms of EOD have not been clear until now. Here, we present the third form of independent EOD of electric eels: middle-voltage EOD. We suggest that every form of EOD is generated by one electric organ independently and reveal the typical discharge order of the three electric organs. We also discuss hybrid EODs, which are combinations of these three independent EODs. This new finding indicates that the electric eel discharge behavior and physiology and the evolutionary purpose of the three electric organs are more complex than previously assumed. The purpose of the middle-voltage EOD still requires clarification.

Whole body withdrawal circuit and its involvement in the behavioral hierarchy of the mollusk Clione limacina

1996 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 529-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. P. Norekian ◽  
R. A. Satterlie
Keyword(s):  
Feeding Behavior ◽  
Motor Neurons ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
The Body ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
High Threshold ◽  
Behavioral Repertoire ◽  
Withdrawal Behavior ◽  
Cerebral Neurons ◽  
Clione Limacina

1. The behavioral repertoire of the holoplanktonic pteropod mollusk Clione limacina includes a few well-defined behaviors organized in a priority sequence. Whole body withdrawal takes precedence over slow swimming behavior, whereas feeding behavior is dominant over withdrawal. In this study a group of neurons is described in the pleural ganglia, which controls whole body withdrawal behavior in Clione. Each pleural withdrawal (Pl-W) neuron has a high threshold for spike generation and is capable of inducing whole body withdrawal in a semi-intact preparation: retraction of the body-tail, wings, and head. Each Pl-W neuron projects axons into the main central nerves and innervates all major regions of the body. 2. Stimulation of Pl-W neurons produces inhibitory inputs to swim motor neurons that terminate swimming activity in the preparation. In turn, Pl-W neurons receive inhibitory inputs from the cerebral neurons involved in the control of feeding behavior in Clione, neurons underlying extrusion of specialized prey capture appendages. Thus it appears that specific inhibitory connections between motor centers can explain the dominance of withdrawal behavior over slow swimming and feeding over withdrawal in Clione.

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