Photo by chrisbb@prodigy.net/Flickr Creative Commons.
New information about eels validates a story from famous German scientist Alexander von Humboldt, who travelled to South America in the early 17th century. He observed eels jumping out of the water to bite horses and deliver an electric shock. This story was largely considered a myth until Kenneth Catania, a biologist at Vanderbilt University, proved it with eels in his lab.