The Sandakan Fish Market

Of all the markets I have been to in the world, the Sandakan fish market goes unparalleled in the variety of its catches, the character of its vendors, and its rank smell of its venue in the middle of the day. A breeze blowing through the building made the air bearable. The friendly men selling the fish proudly showed off their goods well aware I wasn't in the market to buy. The fish lying dead on the metal tables were tropical catches of such diversity that, had they been alive, an aquarium could have been opened and charged a hefty admission. Some men still hacked at the fish with butcher's knives, methodically chopping up large barracudas, tunas, groupers, sting rays, sharks, rays, and other fish I was planning to go scuba diving to see a week later in Semporna. When grabbing their whole fish to show potential buys, men secured their grip with a thumb in the fish's eyeball. After presenting the fish, the quickly held it over the scale ready to weigh it and give a price. Those without customers looking called out for attention announcing their cheap prices. When no one looked over their table, the men washed over their fish with buckets of water and cleaned the extra guts and eyeball jelly off the table down to the floor. Some of the fish had been split right through the cranium down the spine and, well, looked far from appetizing. Sharks and rays had tails and fins sliced off, each with the same precision.
The men spoke with limited English but held me in friendly conversation until they said every word in their vocabulary. Most were happy to have their picture taken but made me wait until they could hold up their biggest catch to pose with.
This large barracuda would have been only a tiny fraction of what it would cost in any major city but with no possible way of cooking it -or eating more than a couple small fillets of it- buying it, or any other fish, was out of question.
I never even knew sting rays were good for eating. Evidently some people like them, and there's obviously a specific way of butchering them to get to the good meat. I love seafood, but these were only fascinating, not appetizing.
How these rays were caught, I'm unsure but seeing just one flying through the deep waters on a day of diving makes a boatful of happy divers. Here, they lie having lost their grace a sad sight to any diver.