system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How does electric eels discharge electricity into it's surroundings?

My very basic understanding is that electric eels stack their electricytes in series similar to many many tiny batteries together to generate hundreds of volts. But wouldn't the electric current just flow within their eletricity generating organ from one direction to the other? How does it circuit with the outside environment? What structure is insulating the anode from the cathode?
gpt
Li-ion batteries have a plastic membrane inside that blocks electricity while allowing ions to flow.  The electrocytes in an electric eel are similar.

Electricity does still flow through the eel itself, but since the eel is not particularly lower resistance than the water, there are still high voltages developed outside the fish.  The eel has to avoid its own heart being exposed to excess voltage, which limits how long the chain of electrocytes can be.

Most importantly electric eels tend to try to wrap around their prey in a U shape, so the shortest path for the electricity (which travels between the eels "chest" and the end of its tail) is outside the eel and ideally through the prey.