Shocking Electric Eel Facts

Electric Eels Can Be Dangerous

A shock from an electric eel is like the brief, numbing jolt from a stun gun. Normally, the shock can’t kill a person. However, the eels can cause heart failure or respiratory failure from multiple shocks or in persons with underlying heart disease. More often, deaths from electric eels shocks occur when the jolt knocks a person in the water and they drown.

Eel bodies are insulated, so they don’t normally shock themselves. However, if an eel is injured, the wound can make the eel susceptible to electricity.

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