[Reef_Geek]

here's a snap shot of an importer's wholesale list for eels.

Mark up in retail is typically cost + freight + box charges + permits + currency conversion, then 3x to 5x for lower value items, and 2x to 3x for higher value items. In addition to landed costs, this covers overhead (electricity, rent, taxes, wages, food, salt, losses in shipment) and provides a decent margin. The aquarium fish business is a low volume high margin business (unlike commodities such as groceries, fuel etc).

I'm going to guess that the higher value eels are both rare and ornate. For one that is simply brown, I'll guess it's in the $10 to $20 wholesale range simply because wholesalers have no interest in holding inventory that can die... but rather want to turnover stock as quickly as possible. I'll qualify my estimate as my opinion only, but as opinion from one having worked in wholesale marine sales management.