Electric Eels

Ken Catania stuck his arm into a tank with an electric eel 10 times -- the only way to get accurate measurements of the circuit created by animal, arm and water. Read More

Vanderbilt biologist Kenneth Catania has accidentally discovered that electric eels can make leaping attacks that dramatically increase the strength of the electric shocks they deliver. In doing so, Catania has confirmed a 200-year-old observation by famous 19th-century explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. Read More

Recent research by Vanderbilt University biologist Ken Catania of the electric eel has revealed that it is not primitive creature that it has been portrayed as. Instead, it has a sophisticated control of the electrical fields it generates that makes it one of the most remarkable predators in the animal kingdom. Read More

In the latest VUCast: Watch how some shocking predators lure their prey; learn how a supercomputer uncovered a hummingbird mystery; and see Vanderbilt's national baseball champs celebrate the holidays. Watch now! Read More