Kandiru is a fish that causes horror

A small catfish kandiru is the most ferocious fish of the Amazon. This is the only vertebral parasite in the blood of its victim. Despite the small size (in thickness - two or three millimeters), the candyra can swell considerably. A catfish clings to its victim's body with its sharp fins, and the only way to remove it is surgery. Kandiru is a fish that the inhabitants of the Amazon coast are afraid of more piranhas. What caused such fear? Let's find out.

Description

The growth of the catfish was clearly not successful, as a rule, there are no individuals larger than a match. The body is thin, thin, so the fish is almost transparent. Having become hungry, the kandir begins to search for the victim, and chooses the bigger fish. Even in the opaque, muddy waters of the Amazon, an excellent sense of smell helps to find it. When the Candiru fish feel the characteristic water flow that the victim ejects through the gills during breathing, and catches the smell of ammonia (the product of fish metabolism, partially removed by breathing from their body), it rushes forward.

Victim Attack

Having found the fish, the candiru climbs into the gap directly under the gill cover and then fits well in the gills of the victim. Doing a catfish is using thorns located on the fins, so much so that you can not get rid of it by any forces, even the most powerful flow of water that passes through the gills does not help.

Now the fish kandiru begins to eat. With knowledge, she bites through the tissues of fish gills a hole, the blood begins to flow from her, which feeds the catfish. This explains one more name for the candida - the "Brazilian vampire". The fish eats fast, the time from the beginning of the meal to the full saturation is from thirty seconds to two minutes. Then kandir is detached from the victim and floats away.

Danger to humans

The dreadful happens when the catfish makes a mistake when choosing a host. In the role of the victim may be a person or another mammal, and then the consequences can be the most serious.

The fact is that the smell of water, flowing from the gills of fish, can be confused with the smell of urine, which in the water is isolated by mammals and humans. In this case, the catfish can by mistake get into the body of some animal or person. The parasite can penetrate into the vagina or anal opening, and small individuals penetrate even into the penis and move further - up to the bladder.

Defeat of people is very rare, but for the affected the consequences are extremely difficult. In the human body, the candiru eats the surrounding tissues and blood, which the victim causes bleeding and severe pain. If you do not provide medical assistance in time, the catfish can lead to death.

Once in the body of a person, kandir (fish) can not get out of it independently, because people are atypical for the catfish owners. Often without surgery, the fish can not be extracted from the ureters. This catfish also keeps in fear the natives living along the shores of the Amazon.

Method of Indians

In 1941, an article on the candidacy was published in an American journal of surgery. Fish, according to the authors, can be expelled from the human body due to the use of a miracle drink. It turns out that this method was invented by the Indians. To expel the catfish from the body, they prepared a special composition of the fruit of the deciduous tree jagua, which grows in most tropical regions of America and reaches twenty meters in height. The fruits of jagua are like oranges, they are covered with a yellowish-brown skin. From the pulp of these fruits, the Indians were preparing a sour drink, perfectly quenching thirst. According to them, if you give him a drink to a person whose body is hit by a candir, in a few minutes the parasite will leave its victim.

Features of behavior

Concerning what exactly attracts the catfish to the genital organs of man, zoologists have expressed various assumptions. The most plausible version is that kandiru is a fish that is extremely sensitive to the smell of urine: it happened that she attacked a person just a few seconds after he had pissed in the water.

However, the catfish does not always penetrate the victim. Sometimes, after catching prey, he bites the skin with his long teeth and begins to suck blood. From this, the body of the fish swells and swells. After eating, the catfish descends to the bottom.

Treatment and consequences

If a person, who was struck by a candiru fish, does not perform an operation on time, he may die. In most cases, surgical intervention is without serious consequences. Residents of the Amazon shores traditionally use folk remedies. In the place of attachment of the catfish they inject the juices of two plants, in particular, the genips. As a result, the kandir perishes, and then decomposes.

Finally

So, now you know that the most terrible vertebrate in the tropical rivers of South America is a small fish kandiru. In Russia, it does not occur. If a person commits a process of urination in the turbid waters of the Amazon, the catfish feels a characteristic water jet, as well as the smell of ammonia contained in human urine. The fish takes the urethra by the gills and makes a fatal mistake, penetrating into the human body.