Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 540
Electric Eels
Hello Everyone
A couple of weeks ago, l was telling you about living organisms that produce light.
Electric eels produce electricity.
They have evolved to do this.
lt is a useful trick to stun prey and ward off attackers.
They can produce a charge over 800 volts when they have grown to full-size!
A scientist called Michael Faraday did many experiments on electric eels to prove that it was actually electricity they discharged from their body.
Did you know that the electric eel inspired the design of the first battery?
Their bodies contain organs with about 6,000 specialized cells called electrocytes that store power like tiny batteries. These can discharge an electric shock when they feel it is necessary.
They have three pairs of organs that produce electricity. These organs take up four fifths of their body mass and give them the ability to discharge low and high voltage shocks. The shocks are triggered by the brain which sends messages through the nervous system and in turn activate the electricity producing organs.
Although electric eels look like large eels with flattened heads, they are, scientifically speaking a knifefish, and related to catfish or carp (goldfish).
They are green-grey on top and a paler yellowish or orange colour beneath.
They live in fresh water. They are air-breathers and have to come to the surface frequently. ln this way, they take in 80% of the oxygen they need.
They can be found in the swamps and rivers of South America.
They are found in the Amazon and the Orinoco rivers.
They don’t only use their electrical charge for attacking; they can use a low-level charge which they use like a radar system to navigate the water they live in or find prey. Their eyesight is poor and the water they live in is often murky.
(See Blog Post 504)
They can grow to well over 2 metres or 8 feet long.
They eat mostly shrimp and fish but they will also take crabs, amphibians, birds and small animals. They are formidable hunters.
So can they kill people?
lt is rare.
But they can stop a heart with multiple shocks and people have drowned after they have been stunned.
Scientists have found that their shocks can be more powerful above water than under water. They have found that electric eels can keep discharging electricity for long periods of time before they can become exhausted and, therefore, passive.
They have also found that groups of Volta electric eels can actually herd prey and then co-ordinate their zaps to stun the prey with one large shock. Once disabled the prey is unable to move and fight off the eels.
Keeping electric eels in captivity is difficult, but you can find them in zoos and aquariums. Some people do keep them as pets, but they have very special requirements.
Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bob: What’s the best way to communicate with a fish?
Bill: l don’t know. What’s the best way to communicate with a fish?
Bob: Drop it a line!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
Picture Gallery
Michael Faraday
‘Father of electronics’
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
This week, Miss Pringle gave the children in her class a lesson about words that can be confusing.
Sometimes a word can be a noun and a verb like a bandage and to bandage.
Sometimes it can’t – like for example
A gag is a joke but to gag is to choke.
Maybe if you heard a bad joke it might make you choke – but that is beside the point. 
Sometimes, words can have more than one meaning and you have to know what it is from context.
For example if you say
He is mad – it could mean very angry
He is mad – it could mean crazy
If you tried to use your dad’s shaver to cut the back lawn, he would be angry and nobody would think he was mentally not right to be.
Can you answer these questions?
What is the difference between…
Layout and outlay
Cook and cooker
Alley, alloy and ally
Under the radar and off the radar
Split-level flat and maisonette
The Sun and the stars
Murder and manslaughter
Beatle and beetle
Ancestor and descendant
Cannonball and cannibal
Exhibition and expedition
Guitar and catarrh
Horse chestnut and sweet chestnut
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Quick Quiz
Can you insert a letter into these well-known phrases?
- The team with the best talent – The *-Team
- When your first plan does not work, you have to employ – Plan *
- When somebody has a special quality that is difficult to define – The *-factor
- The only vitamin not to be stored in your body – Vitamin *
- When one road crosses at the end of another – *- junction
- A ray that can be used for looking inside things like the human body and suitcases – *- ray
- Little sticks used in the bathroom – *- tips
- The pipe under a sink – *- bend
- A small metal hoop used in the construction of garments and accessories – *- ring
- Something that has to be done straight away – *1 priority
lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE PLACE MATS FOR A 12” DOLL
You could use beige coloured yarn to make these look like raffia mats or different colours or matching colours.
PLACE MAT (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and dk yarn cast on 11 stitches
Knit 2 rows of 1×1 rib
Slip 1 (knit 1, purl 1) repeat the last 2 stitches 4 times
Repeat the last row 25 times
Cast off rib-wise
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
Answers to the News Desk Quiz
Layout and outlay – something you lay out onto a surface like a model railway and a sum of money as an investment
Cook and cooker – one is a person and the other an appliance that heats up food
Alley, alloy and ally – a narrow passageway, a mixture of chemical elements that has the property of a metal, a person who is your friend and partner and not an enemy
Under the radar and off the radar – trying to escape detection and nowhere near
Split-level flat and maisonette – the first has its front door inside a building and is spread over more than one floor and the second has a front door on the outside of the building and can be spread over one floor or more
The Sun and the stars – they are all stars but our Sun is especially important to us and clearly much bigger in the sky that all of the other stars
Murder and manslaughter – the first is killing someone with intent and the second is an accident and was not planned
Beatle and beetle – the first is a pop star and the second an invertebrate
Ancestor and descendant – the first is a person who lived before you and the second will live after you
Cannonball and cannibal – a ball to be shot out of a cannon to create damage and the second is a person who eats other people – neither of these are very commonly found nowadays
A weapon of war
Exhibition and expedition – a show that displays objects and an adventurous trip
Guitar and catarrh – a musical instrument and something that blocks up your nose when you have a cold – eating fruit and vegetables regularly helps to prevent catarrh
Horse chestnut and sweet chestnut – the first has rounder inedible seeds and the second has flatter edible seeds called chestnuts – the prickly cases they grow in look different and the leaves on the tree look different
Horse chestnuts are also called conkers
Sweet chestnut has saw-edged leaves
Quick Quiz Answers
- The team with the best talent – The A-Team
- When your first plan does not work, you have to employ – Plan B
- When somebody has a special quality that is difficult to define – The X-factor
- The only vitamin not to be stored in your body – Vitamin C
- When one road crosses at the end of another – T-junction
- A ray that can be used for looking inside things like the human body and suitcases – X-ray
- A little stick used in the bathroom – Q-tips
- The pipe under a sink – U-bend
- A small metal hoop used in the construction of garments and accessories – D-ring
- Something that has to be done straight away – A1 priority
