APRIL FOOL: All eyes will be upon new Mote exhibit

Mote Marine announced March 26 that it has acquired a rare two-headed, electric eel — named AC/DC — that will become the marque attraction when the new Science Education Aquarium opens early in 2025.

AC/DC arrived at Mote's City Island facility March 24 and was put into a quarantine that will last two months. Mote spokesman Mia Copa said AC/DC eventually will be in a first-floor tank that will be the first thing visitors see when they go through the front door of the aquarium. 

"AC/DC is the only known two-headed, electric eel in the world," Copa said. "It is a major score for us and exactly the kind of strange phenomenon that will pique the interest of students all through Sarasota and Manatee counties and beyond."

AC/DC was purchased from the Surinam government and is thought to be about 3 years old.

Daisy Chean, a U.S. ambassador to Surinam, said Surinam scientists felt the U.S. government was better prepared to do research on "two-faced fish."

AC/DC is 6-foot, 7-inches long, which makes it tall for electric eels. A two-headed eel is born approximately one in every 189,000 births and only about 2% of those survive.

Besides the draw for visitors, Copa said the two-headed-eel has attracted possible sponsors to the aquarium as it approaches its opening. She said Florida Power and Light wants to put its name on the electric eel tank. Making that significant is the fact that Mote scientists have joined forces with the power company to develop a marque sign that will point off the third floor toward Interstate 75 and will be illuminated by the Electric Eel's power surges.

Electric Eels omit 860 volts of electricity, plenty to power the 14-foot "SEA" sign that millions of passersby will see from the highway. Mote scientists say the two-headed electric eel actually can produce up to 1,200 volts.

The Costa sunglasses company also has approached Mote about an ad campaign that would have AC/DC wearing his-and-her sunglasses. The AC head of AC/DC is female and the DC head is male.

Suriname fisherman Cabeza de Pez is credited with finding AC/DC, laying at the bottom of a muddy Litanie River but floundering during the dry season. Electric eels are not actually in the eel family, but rather are fish. They live in freshwater, mostly in muddy river beds, but they also inhabit streams and ponds.

AC/DC was born with two brains that send signals to the eel's three electric organs, which all reside in an area below the head but above 90% of the rest of the body. Electric eels send out electric impulses that stun their prey and disable them. In the case of land mammals, those shocks can disable, or stun them, and force them to drown in the water. Electric eels have been known to kill animals as large as horses in this manner.

Although it is rare, humans have been killed by electric eels in the same manner.

Electric eels utilize buccal pumping, which means they breathe through their mouths. It means that they must come to the surface for air. 

Electric eels are the most powerful of all fishes.

Telsa also has contacted Mote Marine about possible sponsorship opportunities and to begin a research program to see if electric eels could power cars.

Mote Marine scientist Mille Meatres said AC/DC will present "awesome research possibilities."

"Electric eels tend to have very poor eyesight, but AC/DC has four eyes and has shown it navigates much better than most of the species. You could say in this case, 'Two heads definitely are better than one,'" Meatres said.

Mote officials told of the recorded history of electric eels, which only are found in South America, in that they were being stalked by the indigenous people who were using horses to pound the river bed and to force the electric eels to come out of the mud to the surface. However, the eels attacked, shocking horses and people and killing several of the horses. The indigenous people were so afraid of the electric eels they would stop fishing that portion of the river.

According to Wikipedia, "Polycephalic (two-headed) animals often make local news headlines when found. The most commonly observed two-headed animals are turtles and snakes. Other species with known two-headed occurrences include cattle, sheep, pigs, cats, dogs, and fish. In 1894, a two-headed partridge was reported in Boston, Massachusetts. It was notable as a dicephalic animal for surviving into adulthood with two perfect heads. Scientists have published in modern journals about dissecting such animals since at least the 1930s. A 1929 paper studied the anatomy of a two-headed kitten..

Wikipedia also tells of "We," a two-headed albino rat snake born in captivity in 2000 with both female and male genitalia, that was scheduled to be auctioned on eBay with an expected price tag of $150,000, though their policy of not trading in live animals prevented the sale.

Mote Martine officials say they would never seel AC/DC.

The Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, has collections of two-headed animals.