On Martin Luther King Day, my friends and I decided to go into Chinatown. I was interested in seeing a live Asian swamp eel (Monopterus albus) for the first time. Well we saw eels, but not the one I was hoping for. Many restaurants and one fish market had live American eels (Anguilla rostrata) on display. This was a fish I've read plenty about and was completely fascinated by(their breeding behavior is fascinating....and that snake-like appearance is just awesome. While I was intending on purchasing a swamp eel, my friends helped me decide to settle for an American eel(I read PLENTY on their captive care beforehand). We searched all the shops and restaurants for a smaller, healthy eel. Most of the healthy ones were on displays at restaurants, and I figured going in and asking "How much is that eel in the window?"(Hey...sounds like a catchy tune!) wouldn't be very polite. We went into one market that actually was selling live eels, but it appeared the only two left they had were dead and moldy...earlier in that same market they had one small eel remaining that I was growing interested in and it appeared to be gone. A closer look showed that the eel I liked was still there sitting on the dirty bottom. When I asked the man working at the counter about getting that eel out, he looked in and told me they were all out, not realizing the last live one blending into the bottom of the filthy tank. When I said I'd take the eel, he gave me a funny look as if he was thinking "why does this man want this one tiny eel(17 inches)?" I was happy to see that it took almost 5 minutes and two workers to net him out of the tank....he was swimming like crazy hoping not to be sliced up into unagi. The man weighed him on the scale(once he stopped thrashing violently) and told me how much I had to pay for him($2.60....very good considering they were charging $8.50/Lb of eel)I said I'd take it...and he started asking me a question I could not make out, while at the same time making his one hand into a pair of scissors(he was asking to clean the eel) and I just froze, not realizing what to say. Luckily my one friend blurted out "NO WE WANT IT ALIVE PLEASE!" and the man simply tossed it into a plastic bag. We asked for him to fill it with water, which he did. I paid for the eel(the cashier made a funny face as well, seeing that I was buying a live eel) and brought him home.
Here's some pics of Eli:
This coming Sunday I will have had him for 3 months!
Here's some pics of Eli:
This coming Sunday I will have had him for 3 months!
