This segment originally aired on May 10, 2016.
There's no better word to describe the electric eel than, well, shocking. Part of that shock, as it turns out, was the discovery that it isn't a real eel at all. While it exhibits a long, smooth, snake-like body, the electric eel is scientifically classified as a knifefish, a cousin to the carp and catfish-only with maximum voltage.
The electric eel's charge is like that of a Taser, except while a Taser delivers 19 high-voltage pulses per second, the electric eel produces an astounding 400 pulses per second.
