Isinglass place of Russian isinglass. The bladders, once removed from the fish, processed, and dried, are formed into various shapes for use. Before the inexpensive production of gelatin and other competing products, isinglass was used in confectionery and desserts such as fruit jelly and "blancmange". Isinglass finings are widely used as a processing aid in the British brewing industry to accelerate the fining, or clarification, of beer. It is used particularly in the production of cask-conditioned beers, although a few cask ales are available which are not fined using isinglass. The finings flocculate the live yeast in the beer into a
Pelican eel in appearance. The gulper eel is very different in appearance to most other [true] eel species. What makes the gulper eel so different from other fish, is not so much what it has, but what it doesn't have. They lack pelvic fins, swim bladders, and scales. Their muscle segments have a “V-shape”, while other fish have “W-shaped” muscle segments. Unlike many other deep sea creatures, it has very small eyes. It is believed that the eyes evolved to detect faint traces of light rather than form images. The gulper eel also has a very long, whip-like tail. Specimens that have