The Poison Review

Thanks to the Australian medical blog Life in the Fast Lane for pointing out this BBC clip on YouTube  about TPR’s favorite fish, the candiru, or toothpick fish:

The candiru is a tiny Amazonian catfish that, according to legend, will swim up the stream of urine and enter the urethra of a victim unlucky enough to micturate in the river.  Once the fish enters the orifice, its fins expand making removal, um, painful and potentially dangerous. The candiru was the subject of a 1991 review article in the Journal of Wilderness Medicine, which reported that:

“Remedies have ranged from penile amputation and suprapubic cystostosmy to application of a native herb that softens the spines . . .”

For another take on the subject, check out this music video: