{"id":399,"date":"2019-12-05T10:44:26","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T16:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/?p=399"},"modified":"2019-12-05T11:37:58","modified_gmt":"2019-12-05T17:37:58","slug":"shocking-around-the-christmas-tree-electric-eel-lights-up-christmas-tree-in-tennessee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/?p=399","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Shocking Around&#8217; the Christmas Tree &#8211; electric eel lights up Christmas tree in Tennessee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Thursday, December 5, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"649\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ShockingEel.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-406\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ShockingEel.png 649w, https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ShockingEel-300x213.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 649px) 100vw, 649px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>This Christmas tree is shocking.<\/p>\n<p>An Aquarium in Tennessee has found a way to use its electric eel to power Christmas lights and spark some awe in holiday visitors.<\/p>\n<p>The eel, named Miguel Wattson, releases low-voltage bolts of electricity whenever he\u2019s looking for food \u2014 and a special machine hooked up to his tank uses the shocks to light up the nearby tree. The intensity of the flashes depends on what he\u2019s currently doing and how he is feeling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bigger flashes are caused by the higher voltage shocks he emits when he\u2019s eating or excited,\u201d Kimberly Hurt, an aquarist at Tennessee Aquarium, said in a press release.<\/p>\n<p>Wattson, who has his own popular Twitter account with over 30,000 followers, posted a video of himself \u201cshocking\u201d around the Christmas tree.<\/p>\n<p>ICYMI, here&#8217;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 \u2014 well, bio-electric \u2014 power is basically limitless.) pic.twitter.com\/g4r5JPHWoH<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Miguel Wattson TNAQ (@EelectricMiguel) December 2, 2019<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the clever eel even powers his own Twitter account. Coders at Tennessee Tech University\u2019s iCube center created the algorithm, powered by his jolts, in 2015 to help give Wattson a voice and an ability to better engage with the public.<\/p>\n<p>He typically tweets out fun messages like \u201cza-BOOSH!!!!,\u201d \u201cKRASNAPPA-TAT!!!\u201d and, most recently, \u201cBAZINGG!!!\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The aquarium hopes its latest festive effort will spur further interest in the freshwater fish.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;by Lauren Tousignant New York Post<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thursday, December 5, 2019 This Christmas tree is shocking. An Aquarium in Tennessee has found a way to use its electric eel to power Christmas lights and spark some awe in holiday visitors. The eel, named Miguel Wattson, releases low-voltage bolts of electricity whenever he\u2019s looking for food \u2014 and a special machine hooked up &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/?p=399\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8216;Shocking Around&#8217; the Christmas Tree &#8211; electric eel lights up Christmas tree in Tennessee<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=399"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":408,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions\/408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randybaran.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}