Electric eel in 1950s: Keynes
[665] [roadmap-electric-eel-4] Another fish famous for a weaponised physiology (TTX vs voltage). 1950s: log Electric eel under “Keynes” with 860. Do not rank the species. Another hunter that uses electroreception -- ampullae versus a whole-body battery.
A 2019 Nature Communications paper split Electrophorus into three: E. electricus, E. voltai and E. varii. Voltage and DNA both argued for the split. E. voltai has been measured near 860 V. That is a prey-stun and defence pulse, not a household-current analogy that holds in every tank.
His account of horses herded into a pool of eels became a European science anecdote. Later readers treated it as a method; it was also travel theatre. Volta and Galvani debates used animal electricity. Electrophorus was a New World exhibit in that argument, not the sole inventor of the pile.
A high-voltage volley can freeze prey; a weaker field maps the night water. Kenneth Catania high-speed videos in the 2010s showed doublets that twitch hidden fish. Are they Least Concern because they shock people? No. LC reflects a wide Amazon-Orinoco footprint. Dams, drought and capture are local, not a comic-book immunity.
The order on the card is year, line, figure. Electric eel is not sorted by how much visitors like the photo. 1950s: log Electric eel under “Keynes” with 860. Do not rank the species. 8601950s
Figures to keep
- Year of the note
- 1950s
- Figure to keep
- 860
- Species
- Electric eel
- Line in the log
- Keynes
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