https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5 What can we learn? How does it make electricity? Anything Interesting? en-us 2016-09-02 00:03:09 UTC 2016-09-04 10:30:36 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Bigthunderstorm.png arianagmoodley https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121235149 The electric eel generates large electric currents by way of a highly specialized nervous system that has the capacity to synchronize the activity of disc-shaped, electricity-producing cells packed into a specialized electric organ. The nervous system does this through a command nucleus that decides when the electric organ will fire. When the command is given, a complex array of nerves makes sure that the thousands of cells activate at once, no matter how far they are from the command nucleus.]]> 2016-09-02 00:07:58 UTC https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121235149 arianagmoodley https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121235990 Each electrogenic cell carries a negative charge of a little less than 100 millivolts on its outside compared to its inside. When the command signal arrives, the nerve terminal releases a minute puff of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter. This creates a transient path with low electrical resistance connecting the inside and the outside of one side of the cell. Thus, each cell behaves like a battery with the activated side carrying a negative charge and the opposite side a positive one.]]> 2016-09-02 00:16:00 UTC https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121235990 arianagmoodley https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121236197 2016-09-02 00:18:12 UTC https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121236197 arianagmoodley https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121236471 #1
They live in the murky streams and ponds of the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South America, feeding mainly on fish, but also amphibians and even birds and small mammals. As air-breathers, they must come to the surface frequently. ]]> 2016-09-02 00:21:36 UTC https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121236471 arianagmoodley https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121236704 #2
Human deaths from electric eels are extremely rare. However, multiple shocks can cause respiratory or heart failure, and people have been known to drown in shallow water after a stunning jolt. ]]> 2016-09-02 00:24:41 UTC https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121236704 arianagmoodley https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121480535 #4
The electric eel is also known for its unusual breeding behaviour. In the dry season, a male electric eel makes a nest from his saliva into which the female electric eel lays her eggs. As many as 17,000 young electric eels will hatch from the eggs in one nest. These young electric eels feed mainly on invertebrates found on the river bed, however, first-born baby electric eels have been known to gobble up the eggs from batches of other electric eels that were laid only a short time after themselves.]]> 2016-09-04 10:10:59 UTC https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121480535 arianagmoodley https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121480572 #3
Electric eels can grow up to 2.5 metres and only need to surface for air every 10 minutes due to the eels complex circulatory system. Electric eels tend to live in muddy beds in calm water, eating fish and small mammals.]]> 2016-09-04 10:12:25 UTC https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121480572 arianagmoodley https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121480616 2016-09-04 10:14:10 UTC https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121480616 arianagmoodley https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121480759 #5
Although they are called eels, they are more closely related to the catfish than to the common eels.
#6
They live in shallow, muddy water and come to the surface every 10 minutes because they breathe atmospheric air.
#7
They are carnivores (meat-eaters) that eat other fish, amphibians, birds and small mammals.]]> 2016-09-04 10:20:52 UTC https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121480759 arianagmoodley https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121480862 2016-09-04 10:25:43 UTC https://padlet.com/arianagmoodley/winm92mdgev5/wish/121480862