how the anode in the water heater looks like

since we got our water heater 8 years ago, I asked myself how the anode looks like and i it is happy. Today I had a chance to pull the old one out and replace with new magnesium one.

Here is how the old one looked. Does not seem happy at all. This is after 8 years dealing with Brooklyn water. I had AOSmith with 10 years warranty. I guess the anode was designed to serve 10 years.

[Anode](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:MIi0:anode.jpg.jpg)