Using aluminum panels as electrodes, Japanese inventor Kazuhiko Minawa has powered a mall Christmas tree with an electric eel. Minawa told Reuters Televesion that "If we could gather all electric eels from all around the world, we would be able to light up an unimaginably giant Christmas tree." Hmmmm.... let's not do that.
The tree has proven to be quite the Christmas attraction. Eel is particularly popular during the summer, because it's rich in vitamins, which the Japanese believe they lose through sweating in the summer heat. "I would love to have an eel like this at home. This is very nature-friendly," said visitor Harumi Yayoi. Is it Harumi? Is it really?
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Comments
Huh? Japan is in the Northern Hemisphere, so their seasons are the same time as yours.
Posted by: synapse | December 17, 2007 12:39 PM
right... we were testing you... you win some sort of prize to be determined later.
Posted by: Andrew | December 17, 2007 12:46 PM
Man, that poor eel. You'd think they'd give him a little cave to hide in, or at least a nice big rock to stare at.
Posted by: Jenbug | December 17, 2007 1:23 PM
And that isn't an eel, it's a big knifefish.
Posted by: Cameron | December 18, 2007 9:28 AM
It's most certainly an electric eel http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=fqd&q=electric+eel&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
Posted by: Andrew | December 18, 2007 9:58 AM
Yes it is, and the electric "eel" is a big knifefish.
Posted by: Cameron | December 18, 2007 11:01 AM
i see your point...
Posted by: Andrew | December 18, 2007 11:04 AM
Apparently people have had some other bright ideas on creative ways of using this species:
http://fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=4535
"Incorporation of this species in fish-based house security systems has been suggested"
Whaaaaaa? I want to see diagrams of how exactly this species is going to defender me against burglars. Oddly, the article it was in doesn't appear to have been written by Japanese scientists either. Well, if it does a lousy job, I'm sure it will make a fine meal. I don't know if it's rich in vitamins or not, but I'm going to assume it's an aphrodisiac.
Posted by: Cameron | December 18, 2007 5:59 PM