Psycho Electric Eel: Difference between revisions

Yeah... that's not ''exactly'' how Electric Eels work in reality.

 

 

Anyway, Electric Eels are found only in South America. They are indeed able to stun their enemies with a nasty jolt - up to 1 ampere, enough to kill a human. They can generate a charge large enough to kill a ''grounded'' person, stun a horse or blow out several bulbs. But they don't exactly light up like Las Vegas. Curiously, while electric eels ''are'' dangerous for a submerged body, and they ''do'' aggressively attack larger animals wandering into water near them (even [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/15/scientist_zaps_himself_electric_eel/ jumping out a little to touch the limb above water]), the latter behavior is optimized to inflict very painful, yet non-lethal shocks: applying current between the limbs could be much more dangerous and maybe easier, but the distinct "cattle-prod" attack allows to chase away one possible predator without attracting all ''other'' predators who could smell the body.

 

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== Anime and Manga ==

* The idea of all eels being "electric eels" is averted in Japanese media in general because most people there are far better acquainted with the regular kind of eels which you eat, and as stated above knifefish only live in South America.

* In an episode of ''[[Princess Tutu]]'', the manager of a ballet troupe is an electric eel. He supplies the lighting needs of the theater.

* An obscure ecchi manga called ''[[Okitsune-sama De Chu]]'' actually ''did'' feature an electric catfish as one off the evil animal spirits possessing people.

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[Tintin]] and the Picaros'' has a fairly accurate depiction of a gymnotus.

* [[X-Men]] / [[New Warriors]] enemy Bandit has powers that are often compared to an electric eel by other characters...[[Averted Trope|meaning they're a lot less impressive]] than [[Shock and Awe|Surge, Electro or Storm's]]. He needed skin contact to electrocute others until he made special weapons to work around his limitations.

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Licence to Kill]]'', [[James Bond]] knocks a guard into a tank of electric eels with lethal results.

* In ''[[Mary Shelley's Frankenstein]]'' by Kenneth Branagh, Victor Frankenstein used electric eels to jump-start his monster.

** A similar, but deliberately comic, use of eels as power sources is in the steampunkish cartoon ''A Gentleman's Duel.''

 

* This trope is so pervasive that there's an urban legend that Eel-skin wallets erase credit cards. Busted by the ''[[MythBusters]]'', seeing that the wallets aren't made of electric eels, duh. (They're not even made of eels, for the record.) And even when they put credit cards next to live electric eels, there was no effect.

* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' had the Delta Flyer, doubling as a submarine, in a brush with an ''alien'' giant electric eel.

 

 

* In the Broadway musical of Disney's ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'', Flotsam and Jetsam have electric powers. This in spite of their having been ''moray eels'' in the movie, and actually being accurate enough to not have electric powers.

 

== Toys ==

* Ehlek, one of the [[Fish People|Barraki]] from ''[[Bionicle]]''.

 

== Video Games ==

* Many of the watery areas in ''[[Banjo-Kazooie|Banjo-Tooie]]'' feature electric eel enemies. Their current never travels, of course—only touching them damages you.

* Some [[Roguelike]]s have electric eels which do electricity damage. Possibly the worst example is [http://crawl.develz.org/wordpress/ Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup]. Although toned down in later versions at one point they were capable of flinging lightning bolts across the screen for massive damage then diving underwater when you got close, making them among the most annoying enemies in the game.

== Web Original ==

* The Eel, a supervillain from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' has the ability to generate an electrical charge in addition to having the "[[Aquaman]]" power set of being able to operate underwater without life support, and the ability to squeeze through very tight openings.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In an episode of the ''[[RoboCop]]'' cartoon, a [[Mad Scientist]] gave one of his creations electric eel powers.

* Coming from a show you'd think would know better: The [[Mad Scientist]] in ''[[Gargoyles]]'' who worked out a way to [[Cursed with Awesome|change humans into Gargoyles]] - sort of - explained that the real Gargoyles had a magical means of storing solar energy as they slept through the day as stone. Lacking another animal that could do so, he decided to give his human-goyles the [[Lego Genetics|genes for an electric eel's]] ''electric organs''. Which allowed them to fire bolts of lightning from their hands. Naturally.

* A vat of Electric Eels and a special containment system are used for Electro's origin in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''.

* Despite being based on a Japanese eel, Unagi from ''[[Sushi Pack]]'' uses electrical power to attack.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Aquatic Animal Tropes]]

[[Category:Artistic License Biology]]