Talk:Candirú
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Just in case anyone sees an urban legend site, this fish has actually been listed on a couple in the past. It is _not_ an urban legend. Ow... Rgamble
- yowza. --KQ
Does anyone have any clue as to what a "buitach apple" is? I found the "xagua plant" - it's even in ITIS, though spelled "jagua", and is in Rubiaceae - but I've seen no reference to the buitach that lists its scientific name or family. -phma
- Excerpts here http://www.urbanlegends.com/animals/urinophilic_candiru.html from an article from the March 1973 article of Urology, pages 265-267. "Candiru: Urinophilic Catfish Its Gift to Urology" by John R. Herman, M.D. - Mentions that "buitach" is used more often "for dissolving kidney stones, rather than the bones of candiru". If anybody can get a copy of the original article, it might well answer this.
I've heard enough about the candiru to be pretty sure its not an urban legend, but I think I read somewhere that the bit about them being able to swim up a stream of urine into a man's penis is false. I read through the straight dope article and it doesn't appear to say that fish jumped out of the water and into the man's penis, so could someone confirm that and change the wikipedia entry? Briham 15:00, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
- On second thought, I'm just going to remove the bit about jumping out of water now. I'm positive its false, but if someone produces evidence to the contrary, feel free to change it back. Briham 15:04, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
- well, I guess I'm the asshole. I read the article again and it says it did enter a non-sumberged penis. I'm assuming the straight dope does its research, so I reverted my edit. I still can't beleive it though.Briham 15:09, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
I think its worth noting that the reason the Candiru doesn't leave is that it gets stuck after filling up with blood. When it attacks the gills of a fish, it can just slip out, but obviously once it fills up with blood, it won't be able to back out of a urethra.
Also, this fish is definitely real (unfortuately). I've seen pictures of it feeding in the gill slit of another fish. Apparently the host fish sometimes dies due to blood loss. Anyway, I would caution against urinating in the Amazon, even if it does sound impossible for a toothpick fish to swim up the urine stream.
The recommended reading section was lifted straight from this site:
http://www.urbanlegends.com/animals/candiru_urethra.html
I'll just mention that and do nothing about it :-) I'm not in a mood for doing major edits. Tristanb 00:35, 14 Dec 2003 (UTC)
Go Team Venture!
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[edit] Ow. Fuck. OW!
That is all. — ceejayoz ★ 15:59, 13 September 2005 (UTC)
Seconded. But it would make for a great horror film! - Some Random Guy
Amen Wardenusa 07:07, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
As far as I know, Candiru does not have the graphical accent. If anybody speaks Portuguese there, remember that: <portuguese> Palavras oxitonas terminadas em "i" ou "u" nao sao acentuadas, com excecao de casos de hiatos, como "jau", "bau". </portuguese> (sorry I'm typing in an American keyboard)
[edit] Other methods of removal?
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/2-29-2004-51087.asp
"One way to expel the fish would be to drink the juice of the green fruit of the Jagua tree, Genipa Americana L. The juice of this fruit is brewed into a tea and drunk hot, supposedly causing the skeleton of the fish to dissolve and resulting in its expulsion from the victim within a couple hours. A synthetic version of the brew has been used in the past by urologists to dissolve bladder "incrustations" and kidney stones. The Candiru can also be removed surgically. But both these processes are time consuming."
ugh..."removal" FG Fox 12:39, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] I want to believe
The Candiru sounds almost too horrible to be believed. Can anyone produce an actual photograph of one?
[edit] Inconsistency
The whole second paragraph explains how the fish can attack humans, but then the last sentence in the third paragraph states: "There have been documented candirú attacks on humans, there is no evidence the fish can survive once inside a human."
This sentence is grammatically incorrect, and contradicts the previous material. Could someone please clarify the situation? IronChris | (talk) 03:58, 18 November 2006 (UTC)
- I agree, it's completely contradictory. I'd change it, but I don't know anything about this fish. Hollerama 03 December 2006
- I don't see why it's contradictory. The fish could attack and then, finding no sustenance, die. 88.110.113.61 11:23, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Surely a myth, despite denials
I don't know anything about this fish either. It appears to exist, however despite Rgamble's protestation, I strongly suspect the whole thing is a long-running hoax, or cultural myth. I seem to remember a similar legend about sexual danger from some small snouted South American animal if one slept too close to the ground in the wild, but I've forgotten the details.
Source page http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/2-29-2004-51087.asp contains at least two rather suspect statements:
There are moves to ban the import of these fish into the United States because of fears that some of them might find their way into American rivers and wreck havoc.
As of now there are no known predators of the candiru and apart from their feeding habits there is very little information available about them.
Nothing else I could find was much better:
http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/animals1/catfish/candiru.html
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000519.html
The much mentioned 1973 edition of Urology doesn't appear to be well-regarded. Urbanlegends.com links mentioned by Tristanb and others above are dead. Professional journals can be wrong!
This para on the page is laughable: A traditional cure involves the use of two plants, the Xagua plant (Genipa americana) and the Buitach apple which are inserted (or their extract in the case of tight spaces) into the affected area. These two plants together will kill and then dissolve the fish. More often, infection causes shock and death in the victim before the candirú can be removed.
Could some biologist please edit this article to fit the facts? Centrepull 18:41, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
- My first leaning about this fish was from a documentary on either Discovery or National Geographic channel, and that program featured a man who had had a candiru fish surgically removed from his urethra. So it probably isn't a hoax even if documentation for this article seems scarce currently. __meco 19:02, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
I strongly disagree. This page is at the least extremely inaccurate. Neither National Geographic nor the Discovery Channel are scientific bodies of any standing. Was the removal operation or specimen removed from this unlucky man preserved or shown? I think not. I would also be surprised if the documentary mentioned actually shed any light on the habits of this mysterious fish.
This article reflects badly on Wikipedia, and needs to be fully revised. The problems: Every single one of the cultural references is from fiction or pop culture. The resources and links are all either doubting, doubtful, or go round in a circle. The wording is generally unscientific and suspect (is it an 'infection'?).
Even worse, the article is making claims that are not justified even by the small amount of scientific literature available.
It is difficult to see how the candiru is both very rare, and feared more than piranha by the local people?
If the candiru isn't very rare, then its attacks on humans must be extremely rare, given the lack of proper evidence.
If it isn't rare, then one would also expect more knowledge of its habits and predators, more pictures etc.
The candiru doesn't 'feed on the blood and body tissue', it feeds only on blood, and only a small amount of that (what it can get in 30s- 145s, according to fishbase.org)
'The candiru is then almost impossible to remove except through an operation' - hmmm, if this fish has managed to force its way into your ass, then either you or the fish has a big problem. This sounds like a scare tactic. Surely the fish withdraws (as usual), or gets stuck and dies. Or has it inflated itself with your blood to block the passage?
'These two plants together will kill and then dissolve the fish' but not dissolve your own membranes?
'More often, infection causes shock and death in the victim before the candirú can be removed' shock and death to the reader, I suspect! More scare tactics.
'The fish jumped out of the water to enter his urethra following the trail of urine'. Unlike the action of gills, urinating is a one-way flow. This event is unlikely to say the least.
The issue at question is not the existence of this parasite, or its parasitism on fish, but the idea of it managing to wedge itself into penises, anuses, vaginas etc, and kill as a result. I have not made the changes myself as I have only scientific and technical knowledge, and insufficient specific biology background.
Details http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=8811
illustrations http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/ThumbnailsSummary.php?ID=8811
candiru mentioned by photographer, but no picture http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0205/feature4/assignment2.html
candiru pic (rather more spines than as described in article) http://www.realtimetv.co.uk/junglehooks/amazon_gallery7.shtml
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- As said below, not a myth: http://web.archive.org/web/20051218092711/http://www.internext.com.br/urologia/Casosclinicos.htm
[edit] Not a myth
I actually saw a special I think was on National Geogrphic Channel regarding this fish and a story where a man was urinating into The Amazon and one of these fish went right into his Penis. THe guy had to go to a hospital to get it removed and was quoted saying "It felt terrible, I thought I was going to die." they actually got the doctor who performed the surgery on the special. Seriously made me uneasy in the pants. I don't know where to find the info on the special unfortunately. CharlieP216 21:50, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
Very exciting and frightening, but not relevant as to whether this fish can really fly up a urine stream into a man's urethra. There is much more 'wanting to believe' than actual proof of anything going on here - at National Geographic as well as on this page. Please read 'Surely a myth' above. Centrepull 09:00, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
- I have a copy of the SAS Survival Handbook, by John Wiseman published by Collins Harvill. On page 53 it's reported there under the section surviving in tropical regions. Lady BlahDeBlah 21:23, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Pain?
As far as I can see from the article, the fish injects itself to the penis. Is this the only pain it will give? If then I don't see how it can be more dangerous than a vampire bat or other leechers. A pirahana biting on you penis would technically be more painful as it'll bite it continuously.--sin-man 08:45, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
- As far as I can tell (from either the Straight Dope or Damn Interesting article), they reportedly swim up the urethra, wedge themselves in, then gorge on blood. They get so big they get stuck/can't get back out. Urine is also blocked. I cringed the whole time I wrote this :/ 65.196.220.2 22:06, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Very Fishy
A nice story but doesn't bear examination. Why would a freshwater fish that evolved to attach itself to another fish's gills, where there is a ready flow of oxygenated water, swim up an oxygen-free tube against a flow of salty ammonia laced fluid only to die of asphyxiation before it had a chance of a meal? This story belongs in the "hamster and cardboard tube" category of urban myth. NBeddoe
[edit] Intent to remove pop culture section
I'm going to remove all the cultural references from this article unless a compelling defense of them is presented here. Many Wikipedia articles contain these pop culture reference sections, and I don't feel that they add anything of value to the articles. There are no criteria for determining what to mention and what not to mention; they tend to be based on the personal tastes of the author and nothing more. They do not contain scientific information. If you look at the more well-developed articles in Wikipedia they do not contain pop culture trivia sections. I'll check back in two weeks and remove the entire section unless someone would care to justify it, and provide criteria for determining what is worthy of mention. James A. Stewart 18:14, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] jumping story
Is it possible that the story of this fish being able to swim up a urine stream occured because the victim was too embarassed to admit he'd been stupid enough to urinate in the water in an area where he knew these things to be? --JamesTheNumberless 15:28, 19 March 2007 (UTC)
