ELECTRICITY FROM FISH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16902, 29 November 1922, Page 10

ELECTRICITY FROM FISH.

Though our shores are occasionally visited by sea creatures' that will at- j tack human beings, wo have fortunate- I ly none of the terrors of the deep that lurk round the coasts of many foreign conn tries. One of tlie most formidable of these j ih the stingray a kind of skate whose long, thin tail is provided with a sharp | spike connected with a poison gland. I One blow from this weapon is sufficient I . to disable any unfortunate bather who Another kind of ray has a still more | wonderful means of attack and defence i It drives off its foes or stuns its prey by means of powerful electric shocks. ; Just beneath the skin of both the upper and lower sides of its body lie many rows of small electric cells, which ran he brought into play at will when , anything touches the. fish. More than 400 of these cells go to make up the j complete battery, which is capable of j giving a Uiock strong enough to paralyse a man. Hie electric cel has also a powerful j generating nlant. Tlie cells are fewer i In number hut they are larger. The electricity oroduced bv these fishes i' exactly the same as that gen- ’ era ted by batteries or dynamos. Tfc will magnetise iron or create a train ! of sparks.