ID: What fish is this? - Monopterus albus

[Cacatuoides]

Hi

While clearing the drain outside my house, my maid accidentally scoop this fish.
It looks like an eel with dark brown body and light spots, but wat puzzles me is it will support itself from mid-body and reaches the surface of the water and breathe in air, causing its throat to expand....hope to get an id of this fish.

[jwuog]

Wow, cool man. I never knew there's more than just "longkang" fish in our drains!

Always looking into the drains for interesting aquatic fauna whenever I come across one, may I know which wonderful drain is it situated?

[Cacatuoides]

Its a drain filled with muddy green water outside my house in Eunos....wonder where this fish came from...

[FishSoup]

Hey there.. this is a swamp eel, Monopterus albus. Its alocal species, quite common actually Carnivorous. It can sort of "hibernate" in mud during dry periods, sort of like the lungfishes.

It's edible, actually. Maybe cook it and eat it?

[MrTree]

the adult can be 5 cm in diamter! and of course cost more & taste better.

[Orion]

Seen them in Chinatown wet market and Seng Shiong. But not so colourful,no red line across but look similar. Said to be very nutritious for pregnant women.

Wow, cool man. I never knew there's more than just "longkang" fish in our drains!

Always looking into the drains for interesting aquatic fauna whenever I come across one, may I know which wonderful drain is it situated?

There is a loop shsped longkang (surround small park actually) between Jalan Kukoh estates and Singapore River. (near petrol kiosk)
A lot of brackish water fishes never see before,sometimes hunderds!

[Cacatuoides]

Oh my, can't imagine eating this fish....thinking how and where I should dispose it
Any takers? for keeping, not eating!

[exotic_idiot]

I saw this before at Bedok resevoir drains. Can grow till quite big

I think around 10 years ago with my nice and friendly neighbour. There's also alot of normal cichlids there white and black strips types..

[Shaihulud]

Its a monopterus albus, i have a few of them too. Caught very small ones from the ponds at my workplace, noone knew what it was too, even the people who stocked the pond, they never put it in there! I will take it off your hand if you don't want it, message me it eats chop up shrimp or fishes if you really want to keep it. Quite an interesting fish to keep, although hard to spot!

[Shaihulud]

Thanks for the fish! They are doing quite nicely in my 1.5ft swamp tank, it has eaten most of the bigger shrimp in the tank though.

[Cacatuoides]

Glad to hear that they're doing well, would love to see a picture of your tank setup!!