Nih, berbagai fakta (sorry in english)
The electric eel, unlike most electric fish, has three separate organs which it uses for producing a charge. The need for three electric organs is to fulfill the various roles and applications of its ability to produce electricity. The Main and Hunters' organs are the high voltage producers, used for protection, fright reflexes and stunning prey. The Sachs' organ is capable only of producing low voltage pulses - its purpose is mainly electro communication and navigation. The eel, spite being slightly curved in the above picture, tends to remain straight whilst moving, using its anal fin to propel itself. This is necessary in order to maintain a uniform electric field around itself, as a more effective sensory mechanism.
The electric organs, responsible for the discharge, are composed of muscle-like cells called electrocytes. These cells resemble muscle cells in the sense that they exist at the end of axons or nerve cells, as a muscle cell would, only the electrocytes have no contracting ability. Having a distinctly disc like form, the electrocytes can be aligned as cells in a battery.
Up to 200,000 of these cells can be aligned in series within the organ....each one capable of producing a small voltage so that when discharged simultaneously, the resulting potential difference is the sum of each of these voltages. In the low voltage organs, electric discharge varies considerably from fish to fish. Some species produce a continual wave-like discharge, whereas others emit a constant pulse. The higher voltage organs emit a pulse, but they remain inactive most of the time, recharging for a large accumulated discharge in the event of danger.
Electric eels are classified as strongly electric fish as opposed to weakly electric fish, the Torpedo ray is another strongly electric fish. Electric discharge is therefore of the "pulse" like nature.
Electrocytes, like all eukaryotic cells, maintain a potential gradient across the membrane, this is done by active transport of Na+ and K+ ions through membrane pumps, protein structures which span the phospholipid bilayers forming the cell membrane. Transport of these ions is coupled to the synthesis of ATP, the standard currency of energy in all biological organisms.
Jadi intinya gini
Bentuk tubuh belut listrik unik. Hampir 7/8 bagian tubuhnya berupa ekor. Di bagian ekor inilah terdapat baterai-baterai kecil berupa lempengan-lempengan kecil yang horizontal dan vertikal. Jumlahnya sangat banyak, lebih dari 5.000 buah. Tegangan listrik tiap baterai kecil ini tidak besar, tetapi kalau semua baterai dihubungkan secara berderet (seri), akan diperoleh tegangan listrik sekitar 600 volt (bandingkan dengan batu baterai yang hanya 1,5 volt).
Ujung ekor bertindak sebagai kutub positif baterai dan ujung kepala bertindak sebagai kutub negatif. Belut listrik dapat mengatur hubungan antara baterai kecil dalam tubuhnya itu untuk mendapat tegangan listrik kecil dan tegangan listrik besar.
Tetapi ketika ketemu musuh atau mangsanya, belut listrik akan memberikan tegangan semaksimal mungkin melalui kepala dan ekornya yang ditempelkan pada tubuh musuh atau mangsanya itu. Arus listrik sekitar 1 ampere yang ditimbulkan oleh tegangan listrik yang tinggi ini akan mengalir dan membunuh mereka. Hewan lain tidak terganggu karena mereka tidak bersentuhan langsung dengan ekor dan kepala belut.
Kalo,
nyetrum semua yang ada di sungai, bisa rusak ekosistemnya, kan? Jadi belut listrik sudah dirancang penciptaannya oleh Tuhan, sehingga tidak membahayakan organisme lain yang tidak sedang "berurusan" dengannya.
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