Watch lightning bolt hit Minnesota aquarium. ‘The eels! They were manifesting’

A Minnesota aquarium was hit by a huge lightning bolt, which broke the facility’s rooftop camera.

Luckily, the camera took the “brunt of the hit” during the July 23 thunderstorm in Duluth, according to the Great Lakes Aquarium.

The aquarium said it was an otherwise normal day, with no guests, staff or animals injured during the lightning strike caught by the Duluth Harbor Cam.

“This doesn’t happen every day,” the aquarium said on Facebook.

A timelapse video on DuluthHarborCam.com shows a cloudy day in the city turn thunderous before the bolt of lightning struck the aquarium.

Did the aquarium’s electric eels have something to do with it?

“The eels! They were manifesting,” one Facebook commenter said.

“I always wondered how they charged electric eels,” another said.

Duluth is about a 155-mile drive northeast from Minneapolis.

This story was originally published July 24, 2025 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Watch lightning bolt hit Minnesota aquarium. ‘The eels! They were manifesting’."