Those skilled with the scalpel have no shortage
of customers in Southeast Asia who seek
cosmetic surgeries.
Common procedures include facelifts, eye lifts,
and chin jobs…for PET FISH—
today, on Cool Stuff Strange Things.
The Asian arowana is a highly prized (and
sometimes very expensive) aquarium fish that
is particularly popular among wealthy Chinese
businessmen.
Young fish can be acquired for as little as
$1,000, but a member of the Chinese Communist
Party allegedly purchased one of the more
mature specimens for $300,000.
They are said to live for decades.
The arowana, also known as the dragon fish,
has large, glimmering scales in red, gold
or green and two whiskers below its mouth.
The fish can grow as large as three feet long.
It’s believed they bring good luck and prosperity
to their owners. Legend has it that loyal
arowana will jump out of their tanks in order
to warn their owners about a bad business deal.
It’s no wonder they are highly valued among
the elite.
Yet, like humans, the arowana occasionally
experience the telltale signs of aging and
other cosmetic issues.
Fortunately for their owners, these problems
can easily be remedied through surgical procedures.
A man named Willie Si is known as “Dr. Arowana”
in Singapore.
Considered the father of fish plastic surgery,
the car-mechanic-turned-fish-consultant began
repairing arowana abnormalities in the ‘90s.
He initially just clipped their tails so they
resembled chrysanthemums,
but later transitioned to other surgeries,
such as removing eyeball fungus with diamond-cutting tools.
Si hung up his scalpel after too many botched
procedures and now simply doles out comfort
and advice to concerned arowana owners.
Eugene Ng is another Singaporean fish doctor
who specializes in arowana cosmetic surgery,
which is relatively inexpensive considering
the cost of the fish itself.
He charges $90 for an eyelift and $60 for
a chin job, but, don’t worry, the fish are administered
a sedative beforehand.
To repair droopy eyes, for example, he loosens
the surrounding tissue and pushes the eyeball
back into the socket with forceps.
Other surgeries involve smoothing out the
scales or repairing a swim bladder.
Typically, the procedures take less than an
hour.
The fish owners strive to make their arowana
as perfect as possible.
An ideal arowana has straight whiskers, bright
and clear eyes, healthy round fins and
shiny scales.
It must swim with confidence and be neither
too thin nor too fat.
Now, Americans pay to have their pets
cosmetically altered, but the patients tend
to be canines, not fish.
Typically, dog plastic surgery in the United
States is performed for medical, not cosmetic, reasons.
Dogs with pushed-in faces such as French bulldogs
and pugs sometimes require eyelid lifts and
nostril procedures to help them see and breathe
better, while Shar-Peis may need tummy tucks
to prevent bacterial infections.
But there is one popular domestic procedure
among pups that strikes many as odd—neutered
male dogs receiving testicular implants, called
Neuticles.
Gregg Miller, the man behind the fake dog
bits, says he’s sold over half a million
Neuticles—available in 11 different sizes—over
the past two decades in order to help canine
companions feel whole again.
Believe it or not, Miller has even created
a pair for…an elephant.
I’m Sabrina Sieck and I’ll be back next
week with more Cool Stuff and Strange Things!
