Christmas Tree Illuminated by an Electric Eel: How Does It Work?

Christmas is approaching at full speed, and when it comes to setting up the proverbial tree, we can always add an extra dose of creativity. But the aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee, has taken it to a whole new level. The staff decided that the lighting of the Christmas tree should be the responsibility of their eel, named Miguel Wattson. Miguel is quite the star, to the point of having his own Twitter account.

A common sight during the holiday season is trees covered in lights, although the quality of sets from China leaves much to be desired, and the risk of fire is always present. However, nothing stops us from doing things differently. A simple strip of LED lights should be safer than certain horrors connected to 220 volts, but at the Chattanooga (Tennessee) aquarium they adopted an unorthodox solution: lights controlled by an eel.

How It Works

Now, before you complain about the conditions and safety of the eel, officially named Miguel Wattson, you should know that he is not powering the lights. The system is based on a sensor that detects each time Miguel generates electricity on his own. When activity is detected, the sensor makes the lights flash and plays a sound that helps visitors identify Miguel's most... 'electrifying' moments.

On average, the pulses of an electric eel usually do not exceed 10 volts when it tries to communicate with other eels or recognize its surroundings, but it can reach peaks of 800 volts if it feels threatened or tries to stun potential prey. That means the Christmas lights have greater intensity when Mr. Wattson tries to eat something. This is not the first time Miguel has participated in this kind of project. In fact, the official description of his Twitter account states that his tweets are generated by his own electric shocks.

Not the First Time

This is not the first time someone has tried to control lights with the electricity of an eel. The Living Planet Aquarium in Utah did something similar in 2012: Its managers installed a pair of electrodes in the eel's tank and used its discharges to control the flickering of the lights with a sequencer. Putting Christmas aside, that is a very interesting way to visualize the electrical behavior of an eel.

Source: NPR