Fish and Christmas Trees

Posted by Douglas DuHamel Nov 25, 2007

Since 1970 the Vancouver Aquarium has had a unique way to save power on their Christmas tree lighting.

Every December, the electric eel tank is wired up to the lights on a Christmas tree. When the eels are fed fish, this stimulates their own electricity. Right after feeding, the eels begin to twitch and this indicates their electric output is starting to generate. Within seconds, the Christmas tree is lights up!

This attraction draws a large crowd at Christmas time.

Did you know that electric eels do not belong to eel family? They belong to the serpentine fish species. These fish can produce electric currents up to 700 volts . When a high voltage is emitted, it is for stunning or killing of prey. They also emit lower voltage and that is used for navigation

When not performing their Christmas jobs, you can find the eels, in the Amazon and South America River display at the Vancouver Aquarium. Because these fish are toothless, they need their electric powers to stun or kill their prey first, so that they may eat it.

These fish actually have the power to knock down a horse crossing a stream at seven meters. The voltage can cause full blown cardiac failure in adult humans.

So if you plan on saving electricity for the holidays by using eel power, please know what you are doing.