Vandelliinae

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Vandelliinae
Vandellia plazaii and Vandellia cirrhosa from de Castelnau

Vandellia plazaii and Vandellia cirrhosa from de Castelnau

Systematics
Cohort : Otomorpha
Sub-cohort : Ostariophysi
Order : Catfish (Siluriformes)
Subordination : Loricarioidei
Family : Loach catfish (Trichomycteridae)
Subfamily : Vandelliinae
Scientific name
Vandelliinae
Bleeker , 1862
This Vandelliinae contradicts the information from the article en: Candiru. Please take part in the discussion and remove this module if necessary.

The representatives of the subfamily Vandelliinae belonging to the loach catfish (family Trichomycteridae ) are also known as urethral catfish . In their homeland of Brazil they are called Candirúes by the Indians and Caboclos , but Caneros in northeastern Brazil .

Urethral catfish are native to the Amazon basin and feed parasitically on the blood of large fish. Since they are guided by urea in their search for food , which their actual host animals excrete via the gills, they can also be misdirected by mammals urinating in the water. It happens again and again that they swim into the urethra , including those of people who take a bath. That is why they are sometimes also referred to as penile fish .

Confusion because of the name

The term "urethral catfish" is also misleadingly used for completely harmless members of the family from a completely different group, the transparent members of the genus Tridensimilis .

The common regional name Candirú is also used for a catfish from the family of whale catfish (Cetopsidae), which is why it is often confused in the literature.

features

Urethral catfish in the strict sense (Vandelliinae) are from 2.7 cm ( Paracanthopoma parva ) to 17 cm ( Vandellia cirrhosa ) long. They are extremely slender, large species worm-shaped. They have needle-shaped teeth that they can use to perforate the aorta of the host fish. All species have hooks behind the gills with which they not only hold on, but which they can also use to climb up suitable ground.

Way of life

Urethral catfish live on sandy bottoms in the Amazon basin and, covered with a thin layer of sand, wait for large fish to swim by. As fish exhaling a portion of their metabolic products through its gills, the urethra catfish swim in the direction of the greater concentration and so go to the source of urea, normally the gills of the fish (i.e., z. B. Large catfish family of catfish (Pimelodidae)). There they bite into the gill aorta and are supplied with blood by the heartbeat of the host fish, so they no longer even have to actively suck (the name blood-sucking catfish is therefore misleading). After only a few minutes, they have their digestive tract filled with blood and leave the gill cavities again, whereupon they sink to the bottom, where they calmly digest the food for several days.

It has also already been observed that hundreds, even thousands, of large catfish that are still alive but have been damaged by capture almost attack some species. It has become known from other host fish (e.g. the Pacu ( Colossoma macropomum )) that they are able to defend themselves against an infestation with Candirús by pressing the gill cover closed or using the pectoral fin to help the Candirús to wipe off.

Penetration into the urethra

Urethral catfish can also be attracted by mammals or humans urinating in the water and it can then happen that the catfish swim into the urethra. Hence they got their common name urethral catfish. In this environment they are not viable, so in agony they get caught with their gill hooks and die. Often their carcasses can only be removed again through an operation. The indigenous people in the affected areas therefore tie up their genitals when bathing or protect themselves with special clothing. Early on, sometimes improper observations and conclusions led to true horror notions that afflicted men can only save their lives through self-castration.

In 1945 a urologist reports that he was able to synthetically produce a brew that dissolves crusts in the urinary bladder. This brew was originally made from the Buitach apple ( Genipa americana ) by the inhabitants of the Amazon basin and must be drunk hot. It is used by the locals when a candirú has penetrated the urethra in bathing men to cause the fish's skeleton to dissolve. Surgical removal is then no longer necessary.

species

Currently recognized genera and species of the subfamily Vandelliinae:

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  1. ↑ ridicule, S. (2002): Candiru - Life and Legend often the Bloodsucking Catfishes . Creative Arts Book Company, Berkeley, California.
  2. ↑ Evers, H.-G. & Seidel, I. (2002): Wels Atlas Vol. 1. Mergus Verlag, Melle.
  3. ↑ Machado, FA & Sazima, I. (1983): Comportamento alimentar do peixe hematófago, Branchioica bertonii (Siluriformes, Trichomycteridae). Ciência e Cultura , 35 (3): 344-348.
  4. ↑ Zuanon, J. & Sazima, I. (2004): Vampire catfishes seek the aorta not the jugular: candirus of the genus Vandellia (Trichomycteridae) feed on major gill arteries of host fishes. Aqua, Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology , 8 (1): 31-36.
  5. ↑ Breault, JL (1991): Candiru: Amazonian parasitic catfish. Journal of Wilderness Medicine , 2 (4): 304-312.
  6. ↑ von den Steinen, K. (1894): Among the primitive peoples of Central Brazil. Travel description and results of the Second Schingú Expedition 1887-1888 . Publishing bookstore Dietrich Reimer, Berlin.
  7. ↑ Lin, EE (1945): Solution of Incrustations in Urinary Bladder by New Method. The Journal of Urology , 53 (5): 702.

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