X-Mas in Prague - Pt.2

We may not have snow, but we have copious amounts of big, ugly, funky fish!

OK, I've been saving this until the last minute to make sure I understood it completely.

In the Czech Republic, and some neighboring countries, they eat CARP for Christmas. These guys catch carp by the hundreds out of all the nearby rivers and sell them at strategic points throughout Prague and the rest of the country.

They cost about 70 Crowns a kilogram and most carp are between 2 and 6 kilos depending on the age of the fish of course. They keep them in these little outdoor kid pools. Probably 40 or so fish in each. Each little setup has three pools and they run the water between all three while constantly switching the fish around.
People buy them and keep them in their bathtub for a few days...I guess to laugh at them and taunt the helpless creatures until they eventually pull 'em out, crack 'em on the head, gut 'em, scale 'em, cut 'em into proper size pieces...and then they fry 'em! This is the story that all my students told me. They all had the same story, they only argued about what size fish was the better option. Jiří argued for the younger fish as they were fresher and Ondra said bigger was better as you only had to buy one and it would all taste the same.

Sounds great eh!

I don't know if you guys know what carp look like (I seem to remember Dad and Grandpa talking about catching carp...maybe not in Illinois...maybe Minnesota or something), but these guys are odd-looking! They have what looks like fish-net stockings for scales. It looks like plastic netting and they constantly open their mouths and make a sucking motion like when you exaggerate a kiss.

BUT, the guys who sell them are quite the characters!
Myself and the guy in the background were taking pictures, so the guy just pulls out a fish and shows it off to us. He starts laughing and making some kind of joke...possibly about us, who knows!