The holiday season is upon us and everyone seems to have started planning their vacations. People have started prepping up for Christmas. This aquarium in the US has also started decking up their Christmas tree but the power source they have used to light the décor is very unusual.
A Tennessee aquarium is using their resident electric eel named Miguel Wattson to power their Christmas decorations. According to HT, the tank in which the eel resides is connected to a nearby Christmas tree. As the eel goes up and down inside its glass aquarium, the bioelectric charge that it emits powers the bulbs on it.
“Whenever Miguel discharges electricity, sensors in the water deliver the charge to a set of speakers. The speakers convert the discharge into the sound you hear and the festively flashing lights,” explains Joey Turnipseed, the Aquarium’s audiovisual production specialist.
Aquarist Kimberly Hurt said to The Washington Post that the constant fluctuations in the lights are caused by the amount of charge the eel emits. “The rapid, dim blinking of the lights is caused by the constant, low-voltage blips of electricity he releases when he’s trying to find food. The bigger flashes are caused by the higher voltage shocks he emits when he’s eating or excited.”
FYI, Miguel the eel or knife-fish also has a Twitter account by his name (@EelectricMiguel) where all the information about him is provided to his 40K followers.
A gentleman never asks someone's age, but since I'm an eel (or knifefish — whateves), I'll let it slide. Mom never bothered with birth certificates, but my human underlings tell me I'm between 8 and 9 years old! pic.twitter.com/524EK0e8KH
— Miguel Wattson TNAQ (@EelectricMiguel) July 18, 2019
The video of the eel lighting the Christmas tree was shared by the eel’s twitter handle.
ICYMI, here's a video of yours truly attempting to use my discharges to power the lights on a Christmas tree. (SPOILER ALERT ::: Of course I pull it off. My phenomenal cosmic — well, bio-electric — power is basically limitless.) pic.twitter.com/g4r5JPHWoH
— Miguel Wattson TNAQ (@EelectricMiguel) December 2, 2019
In the following tweet, it also shared how the sea creature was able to light up the décor.
OK, so full disclosure, the intensity of the lights reflects the strength of my discharges as detected by sensors in my tank. Still r-eel-y cool, though, don'tcha think?
— Miguel Wattson TNAQ (@EelectricMiguel) December 2, 2019
Isn’t this the best use of the fish and also a smart way to save electricity? What do you think? Tell us.