"He needs to be a Youtube star."

June 13, 2013 4:19 PM

Oliver the green moray eel loves to be petted. With small children, a fish popsicle, and commentary about barracudas. (SLYT)

Eels, previously.

posted by casarkos (33 comments total)

This video has totally changed my view in regards to having an eel as a companion/sidekick.
posted by meta87 at 4:28 PM on June 13, 2013 [5 favorites]

I didn't know Aquaman ran an aquarium store.

Best eels ever.
posted by WidgetAlley at 4:31 PM on June 13, 2013

As a diver, I can't help but cringe while watching this video - especially when one of the people petting Oliver starts stroking the inside of his mouth. GAH.
posted by ooga_booga at 4:34 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

AwwWWWW who's a good eel? Who's a good eel! You! Yes you are!

I love this. This is the best Metafilter post.
posted by prize bull octorok at 4:35 PM on June 13, 2013 [5 favorites]

Yeah, this is an educational opportunity on how wild animals aren't tame just because you wish they were just waiting to happen. There's a video of someone losing their thumb to another "pet" moray you can find without searching too hard.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:40 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

So I guess it's not OK to eat fish then.
posted by dobie at 4:45 PM on June 13, 2013

Maybe it's sick or debilitated?

Or just some dude with his arm stuck in a green sock.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:57 PM on June 13, 2013 [6 favorites]

I was expecting to see some lovely underwater arterial spray.
posted by BrotherCaine at 5:03 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

Sweet Jesus that is a tame eel. Those things are blind as bats and in the wild will snap viciously at anything that moves.
posted by eugenen at 5:04 PM on June 13, 2013

When you feel something queer, and an eel bites your ear, that's a moray...
posted by Daily Alice at 5:09 PM on June 13, 2013 [43 favorites]

There's a video of someone losing their thumb to another "pet" moray you can find without searching too hard.

That video is hard to watch because you can't believe someone would be as stupid as to feed a moray eel hotdogs the same shape, size and color AS HIS FINGERS.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 5:15 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

This has changed every conception I had about eels.
posted by codacorolla at 5:16 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Maybe it's sick or debilitated?

Perhaps he's just feeling eel?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:20 PM on June 13, 2013 [11 favorites]

I'm not sure I'd say "loves to be petted."

Tolerates being petted, maybe.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:22 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

This is the second-most adorable Oliver; ahead of Twist but behind John
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:31 PM on June 13, 2013

Is this post a response to this comment just two posts down?
posted by painquale at 5:32 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Snake-like aquatic pet
You can scratch on the head
...
That's a moray?
posted by tigrrrlily at 5:34 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yeah don't eels bite people's fingers off like, quite frequently? I've never scuba dived or snorkeled in my life and I feel like I know that.
posted by nathancaswell at 5:41 PM on June 13, 2013

When you swim in the sea and an eel bites your knee that's a moray

(apologies to whomever, here, I stole it from)
posted by jpolchlopek at 5:55 PM on June 13, 2013 [5 favorites]

listening to the petter's commentary, it seems that the eel thinks he a hygiene fish - there is nothing in the aquarium that grooms the eel, so he lets the person do it. Which is neat, but also a bit sad.

also, the person taking the video assures her friend that she will be edited out. lies!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 5:59 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

I watched it eel-even times.
posted by mai at 6:34 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thanks to everyone here who helped put that damned song into my head.
posted by jquinby at 7:30 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

jpolchlopek, I believe this comment by bradlands is the earliest appearance of that joke on Metafilter.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:51 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Oliver is welcome in my hovercraft anytime.
posted by homunculus at 8:18 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

Thanks to everyone here who helped put that damned song into my head.

When I started reading the first one, for some reason my brain played it for me in the style of the Diarrhea Song. I had never really noticed the similarity between the two songs before, but clearly there is a mashup just waiting to happen.
posted by DingoMutt at 9:54 PM on June 13, 2013

I can't wait to go the local aquarium and try this!
Regards,
Soon-to-be-Lefty
posted by Napoleonic Terrier at 10:00 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've been waiting for an excuse to post this stupid little video for soooo long.
posted by Zero Gravitas at 5:02 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

That video is hard to watch because you can't believe someone would be as stupid as to feed a moray eel hotdogs the same shape, size and color AS HIS FINGERS.

You're a deeper thinker than me: I thought it was hard to believe someone would offer the eel his hand a second time after being lucky enough to get it back in the condition it left the first time.
posted by yerfatma at 5:36 AM on June 14, 2013

Let's do it properly then!
posted by Pyrogenesis at 6:22 AM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

Sending this thread to my friend who has a tumblr about the adventures of a moray eel plushie.
posted by emmling at 8:18 AM on June 14, 2013

Here's another video of someone playing with a moray.
posted by Darken Skye at 1:07 PM on June 14, 2013

I love the commentary.

Kid: Would a barracuda kill you?
Eel-petter: No, probably just maim you. You wouldn't be doing much track & field after that.
Mom: You're really good with kids, you know?

posted by Lexica at 5:43 PM on June 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

Cool Papa Bell: I'm not sure I'd say "loves to be petted."

Tolerates being petted, maybe.

Not sure why you don't see an animal that is actively seeking out the touch, waiting for it, and responding gently to it as if to invite more of it. It's pretty clear to me that the eel is showing pleasure responses.

At first, I was stunned - this is what I think of as "mammal behavior": craving lightly-compressive touch and stroking from another being. But then I realized that morays spend their lives sheltered in close rock crevices, and so their nervous systems must have feedback that says, "My skin is pressed against something, so I'm safe." I suppose being stroked by a hand isn't all that much different from rubbing their body against a tunnel side, in a way, so they get the same relaxing feedback from it.

I suppose the test for this hypothesis would be if most other tunneling animals respond positively to touch.
posted by IAmBroom at 4:57 AM on June 16, 2013