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Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish
Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish | Emily Voigt
30 posts | 30 read | 42 to read
A riveting journey into the bizarre world of the Asian arowana or dragon fish the world s most expensive aquarium fish reveals a surprising history with profound implications for the future of wild animals and human beings alike. A young man is murdered for his prized pet fish. An Asian tycoon buys a single specimen for $150,000. Meanwhile, a pet detective chases smugglers through the streets of New York. Delving into an outlandish realm of obsession, paranoia, and criminality, "The Dragon Behind the Glass" tells the story of a fish like none other: a powerful predator dating to the age of the dinosaurs. Treasured as a status symbol believed to bring good luck, the Asian arowana is bred on high-security farms in Southeast Asia and sold by the hundreds of thousands each year. In the United States, however, it s protected by the Endangered Species Act and illegal to bring into the country though it remains the object of a thriving black market. From the South Bronx to Singapore, journalist Emily Voigt follows the trail of the fish, ultimately embarking on a years-long quest to find the arowana in the wild, venturing deep into some of the last remaining tropical wildernesses on earth. With a captivating blend of personal reporting, history, and science, "The Dragon Behind the Glass" traces our modern fascination with aquarium fish back to the era of exploration when intrepid naturalists stood on the cutting edge of modern science, discovering new and wondrous species in jungles all over the world. In an age when freshwater fish now comprise one of the most rapidly vanishing groups of animals on the planet, Voigt unearths a paradoxical truth behind the dragon fish s rise to fame one that calls into question how we protect the world s rarest species. An elegant exploration of the human conquest of nature, "The Dragon Behind the Glass "revels in the sheer wonder of life s diversity and lays bare our deepest desire to hold onto what is wild."
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Goleemn
Pickpick

An engrossing book! Voigt takes the reader through her journey in search of an Asian arowana in the wild, a rare fish and becoming even more rare as aquarists jack up the price. It‘s nonfiction, but reads like fiction. You‘ll learn about the haphazard way endangered species are listed, and I loved how she presented some of the real quandaries of protecting wild and rare species. Highly recommend!

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Mitch
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Pickpick

Whilst it meandered a bit at times - this was hugely readable and Voight synthesised a huge amount of info and players across the globe in search for this elusive fish. She gets draw into the addiction to find the fish and demonstrates huge levels of bravery, resourcefulness and courage!

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Mitch
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Woodford is obliging me and letting me get a few sneaky morning chapters in! Loving this so far @Soubhiville

Soubhiville I‘m so glad! I learned a lot about the regions she visited and the Arawana from this book. 2y
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CampbellTaraL
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Panpan

I got to a little over halfway and decided to set this one aside. It's not a bad book, and the topic is interesting, I'm just not in a space where I want to listen/read about the wealthy and their disturbing animal fetishes. Chapter 6-7 dived into the lives of "explorers" (my read: exploiters and poachers) and that was enough for me.

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iread2much
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Pickpick

This is between a pick and a so-so for me. I thought a lot of the book was really interesting and sad, but the author takes a lot of tangents. I think the most impactful part of the book is when the author tries to find the fish in the wild, and even in places where the fish was only recently discovered, it‘s extremely difficult to find and speaks to the devastation that humankind is bringing to the planet and the animals we share it with. 2.5/5

Leftcoastzen 🐶☺️ 3y
iread2much @Leftcoastzen 👍🏽😊 3y
UwannaPublishme Aww! Castle looks very relaxed. 🐶💕 3y
iread2much @UwannaPublishme he was quite sleepy when I took this 3y
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Singout
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Pickpick

A very interesting book: interweaving themes of legal and illegal global pet trade, cultural insights from Asia and South America, biology, and a hard look at human greed, especially that of wealthier countries, leading to a decrease in species and habitats. The “dragon” is the wildly valuable arowana aquarium fish, which the author unexpectedly finds herself tracking and researching almost obsessively.
#Nonfiction2021 #somethingaboutanimals

Riveted_Reader_Melissa I really need to read this one, it looks so good. 3y
Singout I think you‘d like it! 3y
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Erdnase
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Pickpick

5/5. Enjoyable on so many levels. Voigt's ambition to discover why the arowana is the most coveted fish propels us on an adventure so engaging and descriptive, you won't want to put this book down. Honestly, this book does an amazing job mixing adventure, discovery and the history of FRESH WATER fish (Heiko Bleher style). The best part is that it's all Nonfiction and extremely informative. Take me to Singapore, Burma and the Amazon now! #NFN2020

Smarkies I really enjoyed this book as well. It was very approachable non-fiction. 3y
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Smarkies
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Pickpick

A really interesting story about the arowana fish - about the fish in nature and the “trade“ of it. I knew it was highly prized but I had no clue that there was so much intrigue around it. Alot of the story was in my country which was really eye-opening for me.
Read this for #nonfiction2020 #somethingaboutascandal and #letterv

rockpools That sounds bizarrely fascinating! 4y
Smarkies @rockpools it was! There were some jungle adventures off the beaten path for some elusive species of this fish. I learnt alot from this book. 4y
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cherinium
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My husband has been involved in some biological fieldwork in SE Asia for several years now. Some of the complications and hurdles encountered in this book remind me of his frustrations...with permits, remote locations, declining populations of the turtle he's looking for, being American, etc. I live in fear the entire time he's away.
#Booked2020 #ArmchairTravel @4thhouseontheleft @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage

Cinfhen This book was SO FASCINATING!! I loved it!! But I totally get your fear 😱 4y
Cinfhen This might be a good one for #HisElderliness @Centique 4y
Soubhiville I loved this one too! 4y
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Centique @Cinfhen oooh yes this looks very interesting. Thanks for the recc! 4y
Christine Is your husband a marine biologist? Mine too! 4y
cherinium @Christine No, he's a herpetologist. His full time job is as a zookeeper, but he has managed to weasel his way into some field work, which is where his heart really is. His passion is freshwater and land turtles, specifically those of SE Asia. His true love is a turtle that measures about 5 inches and is only found in small populations in the mountains of China, Vietnam and Laos. It has been hunted for the pet trade to near extinction. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Fascinating pick! ♥️👊🏻📚 4y
Christine How amazing (and duh, I do now see that you mentioned turtles in your post)! How wonderful that he‘s been able to devote some time to his true passion. (But I also relate to your fears when he‘s away!) (edited) 4y
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Megabooks
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Pickpick

#bookspinBINGO! 🥳

If you like fascinating adventure stories, shady characters, armchair travel, & exotic animals, this is the book for you!

Emily became obsessed with finding the Arowana, a much-prized tropical fish, in the wild. A thriving trade in aquarium Arowana specimens, some of which fetch more than $100,000, has led to some farm breeding, while truly wild ones have become rare. The search for Arowana leads her to Myanmar and the Amazon.

Megabooks Thanks for recommending this years ago, @Cinfhen ! (I think it was you??) 4y
TheAromaofBooks YAY!! Great progress!! And this book actually sounds quite fascinating as well - stacked!! 4y
vlwelser 🎉🎉🎉 4y
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Megabooks @TheAromaofBooks it is a good book! Enjoy! And thank you! 4y
Megabooks @vlwelser 🤗🤗🤗 4y
Cinfhen Yes!!! This book was WILD!!! Congrats on your bingo!!!! And so glad you enjoyed this story 4y
Cinfhen I‘m loving how you set up your bingo board 🙌🏻💕 4y
Megabooks @Cinfhen it kind of reminded me of this one, but I liked Dragon better. 4y
Megabooks @Cinfhen thanks!! I‘m having fun with it! 😁😁 we both got a bingo yesterday!! 😘🤩 4y
Cinfhen Lost City of Z is one of my favorite exploration stories!!!! And I know you didn‘t love it but I thought this one was FABULOUS 4y
Cinfhen I recently read this ARC which I believe is now available,I think you‘d like it 4y
Megabooks @Cinfhen thanks for the rec!! I think monkey god was a problem with format. It‘s not a great audiobook. ☹️ 4y
Cinfhen Agreed, not EVERY book is enhanced by audio 😉 4y
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Soubhiville
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This is my favorite nonfiction I‘ve read in a while! I picked it up at a library sale because the cover and title called to me, but I wasn‘t sure I‘d enjoy it. Of course it‘s about the Arawana, the beautiful and sought after fish for aquarium enthusiasts worldwide. But there is also a ton of info about wildlife and environmental conservation, as well as the political challenges of traveling to Indonesian and Asian countries.

No #LitsyWalkers ⬇️

Emilymdxn Sounds fascinating! 5y
Soubhiville No Litsy Walkers Photo today- it started raining shortly after we left the house. Luckily I wore my raincoat, so we toughed it out for 2.15 miles anyways ☔️🐕. (edited) 5y
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Kaye Good for you ! I‘ve taken walks in the rain too. When you live here, you sorta have to ignore the weather and walk no matter what. ☔️ 🌞 🥶 🥵 5y
Cinfhen I read ( well, listened to this )recently! So good!!! Crazy story and super informative. Have you read this one. It‘s similar and also compelling/ entertaining 5y
ReadingRover My brother is obsessed with these fish. He used to have two. One of them was more than 18 inches long. He even has a tattoo of one on his chest. I have to get him this book! 5y
Soubhiville @cinfhen I haven't read The Feather Thief yet, but it's on my TBR and I thought it sounded really interesting too. It also has an amazing cover! 5y
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Cinfhen
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Pickpick

The Feather Thief meets the aquatic set. This book was beyond fascinating. The narrator did a fantastic job of keeping the story absorbing and all the scientific details and jargon easy to understand. Traveling from Asia to South America and back again, journalist Emily Voight joins a cast of real life Indiana Jones types on a quest to capture the rare arawana fish. Such a wild ride...loved it 🐠🐟🐠🐟🐠 #audio #Hoopla

TrishB Great review 👍🏻 5y
GatheringBooks ooh sounds interesting! 🧚🏼‍♀️📚💕 5y
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Cinfhen
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Listening to the final hour of this aquatic adventure while I do some Passover cleaning💁‍♀️what a crazy fish tale...the narrator is so good. And there is something deeply satisfying about emptying your entire refrigerator and giving it a good cleaning!!! Not to mention checking the expiration dates on the 7 bottles of opened bbq sauce😬

gradcat Cool...I love, love, love seeing this preparation in action...so great! Have a great Passover occasion! (edited) 5y
erzascarletbookgasm This reminds me I should do a good cleaning of my fridge too! 5y
Cathythoughts Audio is so perfect for cleaning 👍🏻♥️ 5y
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julesG Opened bottles/jars of sauce/pesto/jam/... 😵😵😵😵 I should clean out my fridge, too. 5y
Cinfhen Yes!!!!!! @julesG dressing, condiments yogurt, cottage cheese, juice!!!! It‘s worse than a landfill @erzascarletbookgasm Thanks @gradcat !!!! It‘s a lot of work but once the holiday begins, it all seems worth it 🧡 5y
Centique Aw this makes me smile - I love a clean fridge too! And YES how do we get so many bottles of sauce and mustard and chutney and harissa paste and preserved lemons and jars of capers (that‘s the whole top shelf of my fridge 😂😂😂) 5y
Cinfhen I pulled out EVERY shelf & bin & jar & bottle @Centique but the outcome was 😇😇😇😇😇 5y
Crazeedi @Cinfhen you are motivating me to enter my refrigerator cave now😏, it is satisfying isnt it. Great job!! 5y
Jas16 That is my very least favorite housecleaning task but it is satisfying once it is done. 5y
CoffeeAndABook Congratulations 🎉🥂 that is hard & unpleasant work & you did it 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 5y
Cinfhen It wasn‘t that bad @Jas16 @CoffeeAndABook the audio book really helped pass the time @Cathythoughts 🎧 5y
Blaire It is so worth it to get that deep clean done. Chag Sameach! 5y
Cinfhen Thanks @Blaire you too xx Need a matza emoji 💜🐪🍷🍷🍷🍷😘 5y
97 likes14 comments
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UnabridgedPod
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Pickpick

I loved this! I went in knowing nothing about the market for exotic fish, and Voigt's account of her quest to find the rare arowana, a fish that has driven people to murder, takes her to the Amazon River. (continued in comments)

UnabridgedPod While describing her journeys, Voigt illuminates the identification of species, the potentially negative consequences of identifying an animal as endangered, and the tendencies both to over- and under-romanticize rare animals, and the drive of scientists and adventurers toward discovery. Excellent listen on Scribd! 5y
Cinfhen I‘m almost done listening. The narrator is so good!! I‘m hooked ( no pun intended 😉) 5y
UnabridgedPod @Cinfhen 😂 Agreed. I‘m so glad I listened on audio. 5y
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Megabooks
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@Cinfhen spent my last credit on it! You‘re very persuasive! 🤩🤩😘 #audible #audiobook

LeahBergen It sounds fascinating! 5y
Megabooks @LeahBergen The description made me think of The Feather Thief for some reason. I‘m looking forward to it! 5y
Soubhiville I have this on my TBR shelf. It‘s good? 5y
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Megabooks @Soubhiville I‘m starting it now. I had one to finish up. 5y
LeahBergen It totally made me think of The Feather Thief, too! 😆 5y
Cinfhen Oh no!! The pressure!!! But I‘m really thinking ( hoping) you‘re gonna like it 🤞🏼🤞🏼 keep me updated ❤️ 5y
Megabooks @LeahBergen Great minds! 😉 5y
77 likes3 stack adds7 comments
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Cinfhen
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Loving my new #AudioBook ‼️ Who knew fish thieves were a thing??? This true crime is super fascinating and oddly entertaining. I think you‘d really like it @Megabooks and the narrator is really good ❤️

TrishB Who would have known! 5y
Velvetfur This is fascinating, I've just been googling this fish and seen how expensive they can be! Beautiful fish though 🐟💜 5y
Cinfhen I would recommend the audio...it‘s sooooo interesting @Velvetfur @TrishB 5y
See All 7 Comments
Megabooks This sounds right up my alley! Thanks for the tag! You might like this book, too 👍🏻 5y
Cinfhen Listened to Feather Thief a few weeks ago. Well I liked it, it took me awhile to adjust to the narrator but tagged book grabbed me right away. I think you‘re really gonna like it. I‘m listening on Hoopla 😊 5y
Weaponxgirl I loved this on audio soooooo much! One of my favourite books from last year 5y
Cinfhen I‘m really enjoying this book!! The Indiana Jones of the Fish World!!!! So fascinating @Weaponxgirl 5y
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Weaponxgirl
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Pickpick

Another catch up review from last month. I listened to this thinking it would relax me and help me sleep, two hours later I was clutching my sheets whispering to myself “there‘s a fish mafia?!”
I didn‘t know I was interested in fish let alone this one before this book. I didn‘t shut up with arawana facts for a weekend away with my friends and now my iPad is full of books about fish and squid. I loved this!

Smrloomis Great review, this sounds very interesting! 6y
Weaponxgirl @Smrloomis thank you, I enjoyed this so much more than I ever thought I would. 6y
iread2much I‘ve had this book on my shelf in the library for 2 years. It looks amazing! 6y
Weaponxgirl @iread2much it‘s my favourite book of the year so far! I‘ve been on a need to know more about fish kick since 6y
iread2much @Weaponxgirl it‘s a fascinating topic! 6y
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mllemay
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Pickpick

Here is a review of a book I finished 2 weeks ago 🙄 I love true crime and I love books about nature so this was the perfect read for me. I learned a lot about fish and about the illegal animal trade, while also being entertained by the story of the author‘s quest to find a rare fish in the wild, and her reckoning with the best way to protect biodiversity. Great companion read to The Lost City of Z.

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mynamerhymes
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Pickpick

5 ⭐ I loved this book. It was everything I could have asked for, personal, adventurous, informative, relevant. And it was about fish 🐡. The audio book narration was also excellent.

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Soubhiville
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My tiny little book haul from my tiny little library branch book sale. 😊📚

MayJasper Happy finds 6y
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geodynamical_nonfiction
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Pickpick

If you want to discover an exotic, new species, either find a new insect or find a new fish.

This was a nice listen... Following along while the author travels the world in search of the "rare" dragon fish. Not the most riveting read, but therapeutic, just like watching the slow, elegant swimming of a fish in an aquarium.

#litsypartyofone

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geodynamical_nonfiction
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Sarrie
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Pickpick

I love books like this. And I'm just realizing this is probably the third fishy nonfiction I've read this year and loved. Emily Voight has does a great job making the topic interesting and readable. She manages to be funny and sober at turns. I really related to her so hard when she talked about her feet sweating when she broke rules. If you love pets or fish or even conservation this might be a fun one to pick up!

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Sarrie
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Holy crap, she's right, don't do it. It's horrible, oh my god.

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DogEaredBooks
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Mehso-so

I listened to this book on audible read by my favorite Xe Sands. I don't know if I would have finished it without her. It was an ok book but it didn't focus on any of the parts that I thought it would be about (exotic pet smuggling, the intrigue of the pet fish world). It was still a crazy story and fascinating story just not what I was wanting.

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geodynamical_nonfiction
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iread2much I just got this one, it looks really good 7y
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kammartinez
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Pickpick

I'm not into fish as pets, but it turns out that the aquarium trade is a very interesting - and very dangerous - world. This is especially true with the arowana, "the most expensive aquarium fish in the world." Voigt's journey to understand the arowana's mystique takes her from glitzy fish shows to jungle depths, and along the way, she learns how the human desire to control Nature complicates everything. Full review here: http://wp.me/p21txV-x2

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Redheadrambles
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I wasn't at all sure I was interested in the aquarium fish industry but Emily Voigt changed my mind with her opening chapter. Murder! Aggressive rare fish and Shadowy Fish mafia ! - I was hooked
She writes about this world as a curious outsider helpfully taking the reader along on her investigative sojourns to Singaporean fish farms, the heart of Borneo and off-limit rivers in Burma. This is such an engrossing and surprising read !

ReadingOver50 Sounds interesting! 7y
ValerieAndBooks Wow who knew there was a fish mafia. Interesting! 7y
Redheadrambles It is so good even if your not into fish it is a good kind of travel adventure story as well 7y
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Redheadrambles #readharder2016 - Read a science book also #nonfictionnovember 7y
ClairesReads How are you going with #readharder? I'm on my last 2! My current read for a book about politics, and a horror book 7y
Redheadrambles @ClairesReads - oooh so close just one more for me which is the essays. We have done well 😀 I really want to read that Missoula book as well at some point 7y
ClairesReads @Redheadrambles awesome! What are you finishing on? Definitely read Missoula- it is so interesting! 7y
Redheadrambles @ClairesReads actually I still don't know ! I keep picking up and putting down essays maybe Everywhere I look by Helen Garner ? 7y
ClairesReads @Redheadrambles I know that feeling! I'm still tossing up my horror book! 7y
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kammartinez
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I'm not a fish person myself, and even if I was I think I'd prefer to keep koi or tropical fish (or stingrays!), but I still find this book intriguing, not least because of what it might have to say about conservation and the pet trade in Asia.

RanaElizabeth Oh, I've seen this at the library and have been curious about it. Did you finish yet? How is it? 7y
kammartinez @RanaElizabeth Not yet done, but I was proven right when I suspected it'd be intriguing :D. I mean, how many books about pet fish feature a chapter about a murder/burglary, wherein the criminals were after FISH, and not cash or jewelry? 7y
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kaitkingly
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With this cover and subject, this book is going straight on my TBR list. Truth is stranger than fiction indeed! 🐠

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