An electric eel named Miguel Wattson is lighting up his aquarium's Christmas tree

The Tennessee Aquarium thinks people will be shocked once they learn how an electric eel named Miguel Wattson is lighting up a Christmas tree.

Miguel Wattson releases low-voltage discharges when he is looking for food, and higher ones when he is eating or excited, aquarist Kimberly Hurt said. The aquarium attached sensors to his tank that are able to pick up when he produces electricity, and to celebrate the holidays, staffers connected the sensors to a strand of lights on a Christmas tree. The electricity Miguel Wattson generates is not actually turning the tree's lights on, Hurt clarified to NPR, but the sensors and other equipment are "translating when he's producing electricity to the lights."

Miguel Wattson also has a Twitter account, which posts pre-written tweets when he releases high-voltage shocks. The aquarium hopes that by bringing attention to the eel, people will "be interested in these animals and interested in protecting the waters that they live in," Hurt said. Catherine Garcia

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