Fancy an unusual new pet? Perhaps a tiny shrimp that glows turquoise and commands prices higher than that of a gram of gold is just the ticket. Or maybe a fairy mermaid fish with a human-like face and long tail.
Both are among the new generation of aqua pets, expensive new breeds of shrimp and fish, set to star at the Taiwan Aquarium Expo scheduled to open tomorrow at the Taipei World Trade Center.
The “Blue Velvet shrimp,” featuring a turquoise glow, was developed from the popular Rili shrimp, which has a transparent body and a red head.
Photo:Reuters
“We discovered the blue-color genes in these transparent Rili shrimps, so we tried to stabilize the gene,” said Lee Chi-tai (李濟台), the breeder.
“After a year, the blue color is showing up very well, but of course there is still room for improvement,” Lee said.
Another new breed that Lee has developed is the “Chocolate shrimp,” which is a cross between a Tiger shrimp, a Bee shrimp and a Taiwanese mountainous shrimp species.
Brown colors appear on shrimp, but they usually don’t stay. It took six to seven years to stabilize the genes to produce the tiny, dark-brown colored animal, Lee said.
Also on offer at the exhibition are tiny fluorescent fish, genetically modified by inserting the genes of jellyfish and coral.
“They only grow up to 2cm, but their bodies glow very brightly when they are only 1cm long,” said Lin Yu-ho of Jy Lin Trading Co, which developed the fish.
“They are especially suitable for children’s small aquariums,” Lin said.
Taiwan exports more than 80 percent of its aqua pets overseas and the Fisheries Agency has been encouraging the breeding of shrimp because farms take up only small plots of land and generate little pollution.
The payoff is not small.
The genotypes of the two shrimps were auctioned for up to NT$16,000 (US$525) online and while each shrimp weighs less than a gram, the 1cm long creatures are more expensive than 1g of gold — which on Wednesday was selling for about US$1,640 an ounce (28g).
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