This video, below the fold, tells the story of a man whose penis became the temporary home for the candiru fish, a parasitic fish that lives off its host's blood. Do I think this is fact or fiction? Actually, I am not sure what to think, even though I've been told in the past that this is fiction.
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Catfish are a fairly diverse group of fish, familar to aquarium keepers and fans of fried food. They vary in size from the over two meter long Giant Mekong Catfish (Pangasius gigas; a record 646 pound specimen is above) to a finger-length parasitic species, the candiru (Vandellia cirrhosa, see…
Happy Valentine's Day! Though, I doubt this post fits well into your lovely romantic images of the day...
I promised another vertebrate, so here it is, a parasite so cruel it's sure to make you cringe: The Candiru.
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What could be more sci-fi than a case of replacing body parts? Sure, we might figure to do it with machines or cloning instead of another species, but fish don't get that luxury. Snappers have a wonderful parasite that works with them, to a point, to replace a part of their bodies.
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This week is the Lent bumps, and I've been down to watch (except tuesday, when I forgot - since when do the bumps run over 5 days? - and thursday, when it was grey and miserable). Today was a lovely still sunny chill March afternoon, and I was rewarded with some fine bumping action to watch. First…
I couldn't find anything for certain in PubMed, but (oddly enough) The Straight Dope has this updated article on what looks like the exact same incident. I'd be inclined to believe it, myself.
The guy who is swimming the Amazon right now is worried about these little buggers. He pees in his wetsuit, hoping nothing goes up it.
Also, I had an aquaintance who went to the Amazon for some documentary work. He said there was a woman who got the candiru..... The villagers were very mad at her, because the only time they saw her in the water was near their drinking spot.