If it wasn't for it being 12 inches long, based off of your initial description I would've guessed that these could have been the harcourtbutleri's that Pascal described. So now it supposedly has orange speckling on it's body on top of the jet black base color which is supposedly young at 12 inches long. Dammit Man! Sounds like a nice channa, please get a picture soon, and ask if they're willing to export (I don't live too far away) ^__T If you were anywhere else in the world I would have some major doubts as to the accuracy of your claim, but when it comes to fishkeeping the Japanese people really have first dibs on stuff like that coz they're willing to pay top dollar.