Image: L. Sousa

It almost sounds like a bad horror movie. Scientists have recently discovered a new species of electric eel, Volta’s electric eel (Electrophorus voltai). Found in the rivers of South America, it not only is capable of producing 860-V electric shocks — the strongest electric discharge of any animal on Earth, but also hunts its prey in packs. While mammals including wolves and orcas are known to hunt in groups, the behavior is rare in fish, particularly in freshwater fish.

Until just last year, scientists thought that there was only one species of electric eel, which are not actually eels but a variety of knife fish. They also thought that electric eels were solitary predators, sneaking up on sleeping fish and stunning them with an electric shock before them before devouring them. In 2019, however, scientists discovered that there were at least three distinct species. The largest and most powerful of these was designated Volta’s electric eel.

Now, Volta’s electric eels have been observed conducting highly coordinated group hunts. The New York Times reports:

At dawn and dusk, the slimy, snakelike creatures would congregate in shallow water and start swimming together in large circles. After corralling thousands of tiny fish into dense balls, the eels split off into cooperative hunting parties with two to 10 members.
These parties would then surround the schools of terrified tetra and launch joint electric attacks, sending the tetra leaping out of the water. When the electrocuted fish splashed down, the eels quickly devoured them.

Although the researchers weren’t able to measure the voltage of the coordinated electric attacks, they estimate that 10 Volta’s electric eels working together could create an electric current strong enough to power 100 light bulbs.