World’s First Eel-Powered Christmas Tree

created at: 12/22/2010

Even with newer LED string lights, nearly all of our electricity bills go up during the holiday season. Of course, that wouldn’t be the case if you had an eel that sent an 800 watt zap to power your tree each time it moves.

See how it works in this video:

The Enoshima Aquarium believes they are the first in the world to have an electric eel-powered Christmas tree and we are tempted to believe them. This wacky idea does make us a little sad in practice because the tank the eel is in isn’t all that large — hopefully his regular home is bigger — but we suppose it isn’t so bad to use his nature-given gifts to give a little joy to passersby.

The tree also has an annoying singing Santa and a mat nearby that allows visitors to help the eel generate electricity for the tree by running — or dancing — in place. The inventor of the eel-powered tree seems to have grand visions of where his gadget will go in the future.”

Read more at Inhabitat