Heh, I had a similar experience with an eel.
We had about an 18" Peppered Eel in the shop. I came in one morning and my (now ex-)husband had left the cover off the top of the tank following feeding.
So I proceeded to call him and start giving him an earful because now the eel was dead, he was careless, blah blah blah.
While I was on the phone with him, I went and got a fish bag to put on my hand so I could pick up the dried up eel. My plan was to put the bag on my hand like a glove, pick up the carcass and then pull the bag over the eel so I could throw it away.
So while I'm chewing out said husband, he's asking if I'm sure the eel is dead. (We both know they are escape artists and can live surprisingly long out of water). YES, of course it's dead! It's all shriveled and dry and it has dust and grit from the floor on it. As I'm asserting that it is dead, I go to pick it up and it is STIFF - all coiled up - ack, it's not going to fit into the bag. So as I'm explaining that rigor mortis has set in, and I'm trying to wrestle the bag around it for disposal, the husband starts to grovel and apologize.
Then, in an instant, the eel was suddenly not dead anymore.
It started writhing around in my hand, suddenly VERY MUCH ALIVE. ACK! I let out a squeal, and an expletive or two. I had already returned the cover to the tank so I'm trying to wrangle the thing back into the tank, not drop the phone - or the eel...
Husband starts laughing his fool head off on the other end of the phone - he's already figured it out, and he laughs, knowing that a big fat apology is coming his way
The eel sank to the bottom of the tank, took 2 big breaths, looked around, and then slinked back into his PVC pipe hidey hole, as if nothing bad had happened.
We kept him under observation for about a month, and then sold him. Last contact I had with the buyer, was 7 years after we sold him, and he was still alive and well.
Jenn
