August 18, 2026, 3:04 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
A fish that emits electric shocks sounds almost like a creature from an action movie. But it really exists: the electric eel. Researchers have even measured what happens when an electric eel jumps out of the water and directly touches a person. PETBOOK explains how dangerous this electric predator really is and why the 860 volts alone don’t tell the whole story.
Why the Electric Eel Isn’t Really an Eel
Although it is called an eel and looks eel-like, the electric eel is not a true eel. It belongs to the order of New World knifefish. Its name is mainly due to its long, slender body and its ability to emit electric shocks.
The fish can grow up to 2.5 meters long. A large part of its body consists of special electric organs made up of thousands of so-called electrocytes. These modified muscle cells function like small batteries: Each one generates only a small voltage. However, when up to 6,000 electrocytes are activated simultaneously, their voltages add up. This allows an electric eel to produce shocks of more than 600 volts. The positive pole is at the head, the negative at the rear end of the body, allowing the current to flow through a target object.1
Three Times the Power of an Outlet
The electric eel is one of the most unusual animals in South America. It can generate electric impulses to navigate, locate prey, stun fish, and deter potential attackers.
It was long believed that electric eels could produce shocks of about 550 to 650 volts. Particularly impressive is the electric eel species Electrophorus voltai, which has been measured at up to 860 volts. For comparison: A standard electrical outlet in Germany delivers 230 volts.2
Why Does the Electric Eel Need Electricity?
The electric eel uses electricity not only for defense but also for navigation and hunting. Weak electric signals help it perceive its surroundings and navigate in murky waters. It uses stronger shocks to influence, paralyze, or drive prey fish out of hiding.3
This is particularly useful for the electric eel because it often lives in waters where visibility is severely limited. Thus, it can locate and control its prey even when it can barely see them.
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Is the Electric Eel’s Shock Deadly to Humans?
When it comes to electricity, it’s not just the voltage that matters, but also the current, duration, contact area, and where the current flows through the body. A 2017 study by U.S. neurobiologist Kenneth C. Catania shows, however, that the fish should not be underestimated. An electric eel can indeed be dangerous to humans.4
Catania investigated this in a self-experiment, allowing himself to be shocked by an electric eel as it jumped out of the water and directly touched him. Even with a relatively small, only 40-centimeter-long electric eel, the current flowing through his arm reached peaks of 40 to 50 milliamperes. According to the study, these values were well above the thresholds at which pain receptors and withdrawal reflexes are activated. Even a small electric eel can deliver a very unpleasant and painful shock.
While the shock itself rarely ends directly in death according to current knowledge, it can cause severe pain and muscle spasms. An encounter in the water is particularly dangerous: Losing muscle control or panicking due to a shock could, in the worst case, lead to drowning.
Can Electric Eels Really Jump Out of the Water?
If an electric eel feels threatened, it can partially jump out of the water and press its head directly against an attacker. This way, a larger portion of the electric discharge enters the attacker’s body instead of dispersing in the water. The eel doesn’t jump out of the water randomly but uses this behavior strategically to make its shocks more effective. This strategy likely serves to keep predators at bay with a particularly strong shock.