Why do fishes use electricity?

Nature has got kaleidoscope of surprises and awesome creatures. Today, let's learn about one of these astonishing facts, "Why do fishes uses electricity?" Let's explore in today's post....!  

Some varieties of fish use electricity to kill, or stun their prey. The electric currents produced by these fish are generated in cells called electrocytes. When an electrocyte is stimulated, a movement of ions- which are electrically charged atoms across the cell membrane results in an electric discharge.

The electric catfish, for example, can produce an electric shock of 300 to 350 volts to stun or paralyse its prey or attackers. It hunts mainly at night, and is found in the Nile River, as well as Western and Central Africa.

Electric rays are found in tropical and temperate waters worldwide. They have two special kidney-shaped organs that generate, and store electricity like a battery. The electric eel is another example of a fish that hunts using electricity. It can generate a shock of 600 volts, which is strong enough to knock down a horse!

Some of the fishes use electricity for hunting as well as for navigation, elephant-nosed fish use their electrical abilities to communicate with one another. In the simplest example, if two of these fish are hunting in close proximity, one will switch its electrical output to a different frequency so that it does not jam the signal of the other. But the communication becomes much more sophisticated. Males of some species produce specific courtship “songs” during the mating season using electrical impulses to attract females, which can be detected up to 3 feet (1 meter) away.

Some species of fish that live in the murky waters of tropical rivers use electricity to see. They do this by sending out electrical pulses, and navigate their way through the dark waters by detecting how the pulses are altered.

Isn't this too amazing to digest? If you were to encounter a shock from an electric fish, would it kill you? Although there are few documented instances of people dying from an electric eel's shock, it could happen. A single jolt could incapacitate a person long enough to cause him or her to drown, even in shallow water. Multiple shocks could cause a person to stop breathing or go into heart failure.

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