Dangerous Vandellia. Somik kandiru (13 photos) A fish that floats on the smell of urine

Freshwater catfish kandiru has other names: mustachioed or ordinary vandellia, fish - toothpick, catfish - vampire, fish - bloodsucker. And, it should be noted that additional names are not created abstractly, each name is fully consistent with the appearance of the fish and its way of life.

Appearance

The miniature appearance of the catfish initially does not cause unpleasant emotions. Distantly, the fish resemble ordinary fry, which village children catch with cats in cages. But, it is unlikely that the pets will be happy if you present him with live kandiru fish for dinner. Since the kandiru is not just a biting fish, but a mortal threat to a living organism.

First of all, larger fish become potential victims of microscopic catfish. Kandiru swims for a long time next to the victim, choosing the right moment to penetrate her gills. Inside, the vampire spreads its thorns - thorns, breaking the blood vessels, and feeds on blood. In the process of absorbing food, the catfish swells, and its translucent body quickly acquires a red tint. Saturation occurs quickly: from 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes. After eating, the catfish calmly gets out of the victim's bleeding gills and sinks to the bottom. When the fish is full, it calmly rests, buried in soft silt.

A guideline for choosing a victim is the smell of ammonia, which is emitted when the fish breathes, and the catfish also does not ignore the sharp ammonia "aroma" of human urine.

Vampire - kandiru in man

For quite a long time, zoologists did not recognize the existence of the catfish - bloodsuckers, referring the facts to folk fiction. Currently, the evidence accumulated over the years makes it possible to establish exactly how the kandiru fish gets into a person, and what consequences await the victim.

Myths and facts:

Moreover, if you do not consult a doctor in a timely manner, a lethal outcome for a person is inevitable. Therefore, men - Indians, finding an uninvited guest in the genitals and not being able to pull him out in time, often agreed to amputation of the genitals in order to preserve the main thing - life.

Local residents have become wiser over time, and do not pee in the river, and even enter the water, only after putting on "cogwarts" - underwear woven from herbs. But the unenlightened guests of the tropics should eradicate the habit of relieving themselves near tropical rivers in order to initially prevent a dangerous acquaintance with the kandiru fish.

Ordinary vandellia, or mustached vandellia (lat.Vandellia cirrhosa, she - kandiru) is a freshwater fish found in the rivers of the Amazon. The fish is no more than 15 cm in length, has an eel-like shape and is almost transparent. Often there are specimens no larger than a match. However ... this cute creature is considered a dangerous fish among the locals.

Photos from the Web

Photos from the Web

Locals are afraid of this fish, because it can swim into the anus, vagina or - in the case of small individuals - into the penis of a naked person to the very bladder. It feeds on blood and surrounding tissues, which can cause severe pain. Human involvement is extremely rare. The common Vandellia finds its prey by admixing ammonia in the water, released from the gills during the respiration of the fish or, in the case of humans, from the urethra.

Photos from the Web

There is another point of view - it is believed that the kandiru is attracted by the movement of the jet in the water, rather than its smell. In fish, this is the flow of water from the gill slits, and in humans, you know what.

Photos from the Web

Photos from the Web

Photos from the Web

Once upon a time, the natives who lived on the shores of the Amazon risked entering the river only in strong "shorts" made of ... coconut shells! Now the locals swim in places where they can meet kandiru, only in tight-fitting swimming trunks.

Photos from the Web

Be careful friends! Vandellia is awake!

Based on the materials of the article"Plain wandellia or kandiru" and Wikipedia.
Original taken from zoosovet

It is not without reason that the Amazon River and the adjacent territories are considered one of the most dangerous places on the planet. Surviving in those conditions is not easy, the competition between species is growing, and the struggle for survival has long reached the scale of a real war. It is not surprising that the inhabitants in the process of evolution had to acquire sharp claws, powerful muscles, powerful jaws, or at least a camouflage color. Everyone survives as best they can.

When asked which creature should be considered the most dangerous among all the inhabitants of the Amazon, many people are mentioned in the answer about crocodile, anaconda, piranha. However, if you ask local residents about this, their answer will be completely different.

They are convinced that the most fearsome inhabitant of the murky Amazonian waters is the inconspicuous kandiru fish.

External features

This fish is one of the varieties of catfish. Adults of this species rarely reach a decimeter in length. Most fish are smaller. The following photo of a kandiru fish will help you get an idea of ​​its size.

It has an elongated frail body, a nondescript color, a relatively small head with a small mouth. Nature has not endowed her with either powerful fangs or any other organs for attack and defense. Looking ahead, let's say that it is not even in any way poisonous.

Why does this fish bring such horror to the natives and tourists? The answer lies in her behavior.

Victim selection and attack

In the next photo, we see how two kandiru attacked the victim at once. Their heads are behind the gill arch.

For a long time, scientists believed that vampire fish are guided by the ammonia smell, which is released when the fish breathes along with the released water. However, today this issue is controversial. It is possible that the smell does not play any role, and the kandiru are guided only with the help of excellent vision.

In any case, having chosen a fish for the role of a victim, the bloodsucking catfish sticks its head behind the gill arch, spreads the spines on its head, bites into the flesh and begins to actively absorb blood. They eat kandiru quickly, in such conditions there is no time for ceremonies. Having eaten in just a minute or two, the fish lets go of the victim. The belly of a well-fed fish is noticeably enlarged.

Information about the attack on people

Since ancient times, the local population avoided the reservoirs in which this fish is found. There is a lot of information about the attack of kandiru fish on people. It should be admitted that, on the one hand, all of them cannot be considered reliable - the evidence base is simply negligible. But on the other hand, it is quite clear that such a myth could not have arisen out of nowhere.

Modern medicine does not deny that attacks on people are possible, however, according to official sources, the bad reputation of the kandiru is exaggerated.

For a long time it was believed that it is the ammonia contained in the urine that attracts these fish, and they confuse the genitals of people with their usual victims. Guided by the stream of urine, the fish can penetrate into the urethra, or, having missed a little, end up in the vagina and even in the anus. However, today it has been established that the fish can also see perfectly. Probably, being hungry, she is not too picky, and therefore attacks everything that attracts her.

In any case, you should not swim where the kandiru fish live, and even more so in those places you should not urinate in the water.

Myths and reality

Researchers of these creatures have repeatedly stumbled upon unusual information. At the disposal of modern scientists there are many records left by their colleagues in the past. However, not all of them stand up to a critical eye.

For example, in the 19th century, it was believed that a fish jumps out of a reservoir and "flies" into the urethra, heading up the stream of urine. But to pull off such a trick, the kandiru would need to break several laws of physics. Today it has been established that this is impossible.

The issue of attacks by kandiru on humans is currently under study. There are very few cases, and therefore materials for research.

But the fact that the kandiru can rise up the urethra, and not only along the female, but also along the narrower and longer male, is confirmed. X-ray data have shown that the vampire catfish can reach the bladder. But he has no reverse gear ...

The methods of the natives

In addition to this method, the inhabitants of the coastal areas of the Amazon try to use protective devices that mechanically prevent the penetration of fish into the body. Before bathing, they apply tight bandages to the genitals and even construct complex structures from coconut shells. Such structures can also protect against piranha bites.

Official science knows about the use of the drink from the fruits of jagua by the natives since at least 1941. However, the effectiveness of the method has not been confirmed, therefore, no development of drugs based on it is currently being carried out.

Symptoms, treatment, consequences

Today, the only recognized method is surgery. In some cases, a shallow kandiru fish can be retrieved with a probe.

Fortunately, this fish is not found neither in Russia nor in other countries located far from the Amazon. It is endemic to South America. Only those who plan to visit the places of its natural habitat should be afraid of an unwanted meeting of her.

Despite its small size - 2-3 mm in thickness, it can swell significantly and with its sharp fins clings to the body of the victim. The only way to remove it is through surgery. Locals fear her more than piranhas.

Let's find out WHY?

Kandiru clearly failed in growth, and usually there are individuals no larger than a match. And his body is thin and thin, so he is almost transparent. Hungry, kandiru begins to search for a victim - and he is looking for some larger fish. Finding it, even in the murky, opaque waters of the Amazon, helps the excellent sense of smell of the Vandellia catfish. When the kandiru senses (touches) the characteristic stream of water thrown out by the fish through the gills during breathing, besides, in it the catfish also catches the smell of ammonia (a product of the metabolism of fish, which is partially removed from their body through breathing), it rushes forward.

Having found the fish, the kandiru literally crawls into the gap under the gill cover, and then reliably fixes itself in the gills of its prey. He does this with the help of special thorns located on his fins so that now it is impossible to get rid of him by any forces, even by the most powerful stream of water passing through the gills.

And what is terrible here, you ask?!.

And the terrible thing happens when the catfish is mistaken when choosing the owner ... And then everything does not end so well both for the fish and for the victim, in the role of which can be a person or another mammal ...

But what is important is that the kandir cannot get out of this unfamiliar environment, he will be stuck there for a long time. Here, the catfish always perishes, since it cannot get out of the human body, since a person is not a typical owner of a kandir. Therefore, without surgical intervention, it is often impossible to extract the catfish from the urethra of a person. This is what keeps the catfish-kandiru in fear of the natives living along the shores of the Amazon.

In 1941, the American Journal of Surgery published an article about the kandiru. Its authors - Kenneth Winton and Hugh Stickler - argued that the Indians came up with one way to get rid of the fish, which is "less painful than amputation of the penis."

Zoologists have expressed various assumptions as to what exactly attracts kandiru to the human genitals. The most plausible assumption seems to be that kandiru are extremely sensitive to the smell of urine: it happened that kandiru attacked a person a few moments after he urinated in water. It is believed that kandiru are able to find the source of the smell in the water.

But the kandiru does not always penetrate the victim. It happens that, having overtaken the prey, the kandiru bite through the human skin or the gill tissue of the fish with long teeth that grow in their upper jaw, and begin to suck blood from the victim, which causes the body of the kandiru to swell and swell. Candiru is hunted not only for fish and mammals, but also for reptiles.

In most cases, operations take place without serious consequences, but if the operation is not carried out on time, the person may even die. The local population traditionally uses folk methods of treatment, using the juices of two types of plants (in particular, genipy juice or burnt genipy leaves), which are injected directly into the place of attachment of the fish, which dies and then decomposes.

So, if a person makes the process of urination in the murky waters of the Amazon, then the catfish feels both the characteristic stream of water and the smell of ammonia, which human urine contains in certain quantities, and the fish takes the urethra for the gills and makes its fatal mistake, penetrating the human body. Therefore, the natives, they say, invented special wooden "pants", both light and durable. They make them from coconut shells, reliably protecting the genitals and anus from the catfish-parasite kandiru ...

The Amazon is inhabited by scary fish. they shock 650 volts, stingray stingrays pierce their victims with their tails, piranhas simply devour ... But the kandiru catfish surpassed everyone.

Kandiru is not very tall, no more than a match. And so thin that it is almost transparent. But the natives along the Amazon coast are kept in awe. However, the catfish has nothing to do with people; it feeds on the blood of fish. When the kandiru catfish feels the characteristic stream of water and the smell of ammonia that fish expel when breathing, he realizes that fish gills are moving nearby in space ... That is, holes of a living creature that you can get into. And drink plenty of blood ...

Not everything ends well if the fish happens to get into the human body or some animal that is not a fish.

When, for example, a person urinates in the murky waters of the Amazon, the catfish feels both the characteristic stream of water and the smell of ammonia, which human urine contains in known quantities. Of course, the fish takes the urethra for the gills and penetrates there with a thin snake.

It would be possible to advise people who, for whatever reason, find themselves in the waters of the Amazon, not to urinate in the river, but this would be a useless recommendation. After all, the kandiru catfish can also penetrate the anus ... The only salvation is wooden panties, light and durable. The natives make them from coconuts. They reliably protect the genitals and reduce human mortality.

But if you don't use protection when you enter the Amazon, the catfish will swim right up to the bladder.

And it will be at an impasse.

The tragedy lies in the fact that the presence of a kandiru in him causes terrible suffering to a person, and a kandiru in a person is not sweet. Because it is impossible to live inside the human body, but it is also impossible to get out. After all, catfish appear in a person quite by accident, without any malicious intent, as a result of a fatal misunderstanding.

As a result, it is possible to extract the kandiru catfish only with the help of an operation. In the event that the operation is not carried out on time, the person dies.

A catfish, a kandiru, who accidentally swam into a person, always dies.