How do electric fish make electricity?

Some fish can deliver electric shocks that are four times more powerful than the electricity in your plug sockets at home. Crowdscience listener Mouhammed in Cameroon was stunned by this, so he charged us with finding out how they do it.

Presenter Caroline Steel heads to Bayreuth in Germany to meet some eels who have this amazing ability. Dr Stefan Schuster and Susanne Proschke introduce us to their collection of electric fish, and help us conduct some experiments to work out how the fish are wired. We’ll be diving into electric fishes' anatomy, learning how a specialised organ allows them to generate massive voltages of electricity.

Harold Zakon from the University of Texas will help us understand their evolutionary history, while Brazilian ecologist Nonato Junior takes us on a journey into the currents of the Amazon River where electric eels live.

And we’ll answer a question that has boggled philosophers, thinkers, and scientists for over 2000 years. If these fish can stun a human, a crocodile or even a horse, how do they survive the electric shocks themselves?

Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski Editor: Ben Motley

Photo: Blue lightning bolt streaks. Credit: Ludmila Snimshikova via Getty Images Photo: Electric Eel, Venezuela. Credit: Reinhard Dirscherl via Getty Images