We’ve all been there: Your dog hears the can opener or your cat hears the familiar sound of the automatic feeder dispensing food, and all of a sudden, there’s ruckus in your house. Barking, running, and, most of all, an excitable pet at your feet, following your every move so that they won’t waste a single second before chowing down.
We’ll be honest: As cute as our pets are, it can get a little annoying sometimes (especially if the can you happen to be opening is for your own dinner). That was, of course, until we saw this video of eels during feeding time at an eel farm. Now, we’ll happily take Fido and Ms. Whiskers any day of the week.
Posted to the r/AbruptChaos subreddit, this video shows what happens during feeding time at an eel farm. It all starts out innocently enough, with a large chunk of food dropped into the water. But, just like Fido, the eels pounce, instantly swarming the food until you don’t know where one eel ends and the next begins — and it all starts to look like something out of a horror movie.
“This looks like a Princess Mononoke demon,” Redditor onthatgas proposed, earning the top comment. Ninjanerd032 responded, “In Japan, they farm and eat a lot of eel. So, I imagine the Japanese creator(s) of Princess Mononoke could have been inspired by this.”
Redditor Savings-Principle-26 joked, “There are some Bond villains out there with sweaty palms watching this,” and bluenoessutherland added, “I’m thinking it probably is a bad idea to fall in.”
What are the eels eating?
One major question that many Redditors have is what, exactly, the eels are eating (given that it looks a little more like something you’d pick up with a scooper and place in the trash than actual food). Eels in eel farms are fed a mixture of fish meal, wheat, soybean meal, and fish oil.
One eel farmer acknowledged in an interview with Business Insider that feeding the eels in a way that ensures all get enough nutrients can be a difficult task.
While the job is hard, it’s also lucrative: These eels are being raised to be sold to restaurants — they’re considered a delicacy, and one kilogram of baby eels can cost around $35,000. A meal with an adult eel in it can cost up to $91. (One consequence of the high demand? The Japanese eel was classified as endangered in 2014.)
So, maybe it’s best to skip the kabayaki (a dish made with eel) and order a pizza instead. (Just watch out for your dog begging for those table scraps.)
