“Primitive” Electric Eel Not So Primitive After All

Revelation 4:11
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Not long ago, we told you about the ingenious way that electric eels release strong electric current into the water to make fish thrash about and come out of hiding. That’s a pretty cool trick from such a supposedly primitive creature.

Now scientists have discovered another shockingly sophisticated trick used by electric eels. As reported by Reuters, “Vanderbilt University neurobiologist Kenneth Catania said some have viewed electric eels as unsophisticated, primitive creatures with a single tool in the toolbox, shocking their prey to death.” But he added, “In reality, they manipulate their electric fields in complex ways that only now are being appreciated.”

Basically, electric eels brings their positive end – located in their head – close to the negative end in their tail. By trapping their prey between the positive and negative ends of their “battery”, the eels are able to more than double the voltage inflicted on prey.

According to Catania, “We know from basic physics that bringing two electrical poles together concentrates the electric field, and we know from basic muscle physiology that running a muscle too fast for too long causes exhaustion. But I would never have imagined an electric eel could produce the same results.”

Dr. Catania, do you know why you would never have imagined that? Because you believe – despite the evidence – that electric eels are primitive creatures produced by non-intelligent chance mutations. But creationists who study electric eels aren’t shocked by their sophisticated abilities. We know they were created just one day before man.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, the so-called “primitive” animals Your Son created give powerful testimony that they are not primitive at all. Indeed, they reveal how foolish evolution really is. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Author: Steven J. Schwartz
Ref: Will Dunham, “Zap happy: electric eels innovative in subduing hapless prey,” Reuters, 10/28/15. Photo: Electric eel at the New England Aquarium. Photographed by Steven G. Johnson. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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