Electric eels are one of the most fascinating underwater creatures as, let’s be honest, they’re basically Pokémon. Shaped like serpents with the ability to shock with the power of over 800 volts, they’re definitely not your average sea dweller. Well, one scientist with a particular interest in the electric eel was brave enough to learn what we all know: getting shocked hurts.
Vanderbilt University biologist Kenneth Catania was looking to find out just how powerful the shock of an electric eel can be. Which, considering that whole 800-volt number I mentioned earlier, I thought was common knowledge. Knowing the possible danger of a full-grown member of the species shocking him, Catania chose a smaller eel to conduct the study. Probably because science has proven that it’s undeniably more difficult to conduct future experiments if you’ve been afflicted by death.
The video of the experiment (which is slowed down just to add a little extra creepiness), shows the startled eel slithering towards his arm and shocking it. Add a little creepy music in the background and you’ve got yourself a mini found footage horror film. Whoever knows how video editing works, please do that and send it over to me.
The greatest part of the video? The fact that, because of the slow editing, it looks like the scientist didn’t even flinch after being shocked. At least, that’s what I thought happened. The video apparently cuts out before his arm recoils, which is somewhat of a natural response when receiving extreme amounts of pain.
While it wasn’t easy to collect the information, these findings will be overall useful in studying the currents across different types of eels. You have to respect Catania as, even though it seems like something Johnny Knoxville would do on a dare, he went through some pretty intense pain in the name of science.
Additionally, Catania (or, rather, his arm) has become somewhat of a minor internet star, as the video has over 40,000 views. So you’re telling me all I have to do to get more YouTube views is get horribly injured by a creepy looking creature? Probably still worth it.
