Strange facts about eels you may not know

You may know eels as long, snake-like fish that glide effortlessly through the water. You may also know that they are very, very slimy! However, there are some strange properties to these fish that many people don't know about.

Electric eels can deliver shocks of up to 860 volts.

When the electric eel detects prey, its brain sends a signal to its electrocytes, prompting them to deliver a powerful electric shock of up to 860 volts.

Electric eels are not actually part of the eel family.

Although it has the word eel in its name, they are more closely related to catfish. Native to South America, electric eels are classified in a special group called electrophorus and belong to the family Gymnotidae.

An eel can live up to 150 years.

Although European eels tend to live for 15 to 20 years, one giant eel reportedly lived to be around 155 years old in the Swedish village of Brantevik.

 

Caught by an eight-year-old boy, the Brantevik eel was released into the boy's family's well around 1859 to maintain water quality. Amazingly, the fish survived there until its death in 2014.

Eels can swim upstream.

Watching eels swim through the water is quite fascinating, and the way they can move in both directions is by creating waves using the entire length of their bodies.

Moving forward and backward allows eels to move through tight spaces in the water, hunt more efficiently, and escape predators.

Eels are active all night long.

Most eels are nocturnal, meaning they come out mainly after sunset. During the day, they prefer to hide and swim deep underwater.

At night, eels hunt by relying on smell rather than sight to catch food.

Some species of eels are born in the Bermuda Triangle.

American and European eels originate from the Sargasso Sea, located in the mysterious Devil's Triangle. As newborns, they embark on an epic journey to adulthood in the rivers of Europe and North America.

As adults, they make a return trip to the Sargasso Sea to lay eggs, continuing this remarkable cycle.