This electric eel is named Miguel Wattson. He gives off electric shocks when he is feeding or excited.
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A creature called Miguel Wattson has been charged with creating Yuletide spirit at the Tennessee Aquarium.
The electric eel gives off electric shocks when he is feeding or excited.
In a new illumination called "Shocking around the Christmas tree," the aquarium uses a special system in Miguel's tank to coordinate his electric pulses to a sound system and Christmas tree.
"Whenever Miguel discharges electricity, sensors in the water deliver the charge to a set of speakers," said Joey Turnipseed, the Tennessee Aquarium’s audiovisual production specialist in a statement posted on their website.
“The speakers convert the discharge into the sound you hear and the festively flashing lights.”
Aquarium staff specified that the lights are not actually powered by the eel's shocks.
Rather, "the intensity of their glow corresponds to the strength of the eel's discharges as detected by sensors in the tank that are connected to the Christmas tree," aquarium staff wrote on social media.
The electric eel is not actually a type of eel, but rather a type of knifefish related to carp. The fish is capable of generating over 800 volts of electricity.