7-year-old Mie boy catches rare 'banana eel'

Yoshihito Ueyama, left, and his younger brother stare at a yellow and black spotted eel at their home in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, on Saturday. (Credit: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

TSU -- A 7-year-old boy fished out from an irrigation ditch an unusual yellow and black spotted eel that was later confirmed by experts to have a mutation that causes a congenital lack of pigment, in Tsu, Mie Prefecture.

Yoshihito Ueyama, a first-year elementary school student in the city, caught the odd-colored eel on Friday using a mullet fingerling as bait at an irrigation ditch where he usually enjoys catching crayfish and loaches.