Power of electric eels is a natural mystery

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, lightning kills about 24,000 people worldwide each year. Apocalyptic thunderstorms occur when the gods were angry, or so it was thought; only during them do we mortals perceive electricity directly. Some fish, however, have no such difficulty; they not only sense the mysterious energy, but use it to locate prey.

The notorious electric eel goes further; it has developed electrical sensitivity into a lethal weapon. The mysterious eel was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1766. Ever since then, there was thought to be just one species. A paper just published, however, claims that there are at least three.