Vandellia cirrhosa
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Vandellia cirrhosa |
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| Valenciennes , 1846 |
Vandellia cirrhosa is the largest representative of the subfamily Vandelliinae from the order of the catfish , which iscalled Candirú or Canero in its distribution area . In the media, the fish are also referred to as urethral catfish or penile fish. Like all of its close relatives, Vandellia cirrhosa is a pure freshwater fish thatoccursin the Amazon and Orinoco basins .
features
The fish can grow up to 15 centimeters. Typical for this species is an elongated, almost worm-like body, with small, dorsal and anal fins lying far back. The pelvic fins are also closer to the tail than to the mouth. The teeth are very small and needle-shaped, in a series in the middle of the upper jaw, claw-like teeth at the end of the maxillary. Very small gill opening; No nasal or upper jaw barbels, the barbels at the corner of the mouth are very small.
Way of life
The fish live above sandbanks, lightly covered with sand, and wait for large fish to swim by. Vandellia cirrhosa is a parasite . He can perceive the urea from the metabolic products of large fish exchanged through gill breathing and swims, following the concentration, into the gill openings of the fish. It uses its own gill spines to climb up to the gill aorta and to hold on. It perforates the artery with needle-shaped teeth and takes in the blood of the host fish, which earned it the nickname “Brazilian vampire fish”. V. cirrhosa , however, is not a bloodsucker, because the species does not have suction organs. The pressure of the blood flowing out of the artery is enough to fill the fish with blood in 30 to 145 seconds. Then the Candiru leaves the host animal.
There are case reports that a candiru (the species in question is usually not documented) swam into a man's urethra and had to be surgically removed. It is speculated that the fish confuses the water current created by urinating underwater with the current emerging from gills. Although there are only a few such reports (from the 19th century), Indians wear special clothing on the rivers concerned, such as the penis cord , which protect them from being attacked while bathing. Likewise, the indigenous peoples in the distribution areas are said to have known how they could free themselves from the parasites without an operation using vegetable juices that dissolve the skeleton of the stuck fish. Since there have been no documented cases since then, doubts are in order.
In German usage, the Tridensimilis is also incorrectly referred to as urethral catfish and, for reasons of confusion, it is said to behave similarly.
In addition, another catfish species in the Amazon is known as Candiru , Cetopsis candiru , but it has a completely different way of life. These animals belonging to the whale catfish ( Cetopsidae ) feed on dead or dying larger fish (also on the carcasses of mammals floating in the water) by eating a hole in the abdominal wall and eating the animals from the inside. They follow the smell of carrion and blood and are suspected of being responsible for the attacks on women bathing, especially during menstruation. These candiruses can also form swarms of food.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Article on welt.de
- ^ Eigenmann, CH (1918): The Pygidiidae, a family of South American catfishes. Memoires of the Carnegie Museum , 7 (5): 259-398.
- ↑ Vari, RP, Ferraris, CJ Jr. & de Pinna, MCC (2005): The Neotropical whale catfishes (Siluriformes: Cetopsidae: Cetopsinae), a revisionary study. Neotropical Ichthyology , 3 (2): 127-238.
- ↑ Stephen Spotte: Candiru - Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfishes. Creative Arts, Berkeley 2002, ISBN 978-0887394690 .
- ↑ Eugenio Estellita Lins: The Solution of incrustations in Urinary Bladder by a New Method. The Journal of Urology 53, 1945, doi: 10.1016 / S0022-5347 (17) 70199-1 .
- ↑ Irmgard L. Bauer: Candiru - A Little Fish With Bad Habits: Need Travel Health Professionals Worry? A review. Journal of Travel Medicine 20, 2013, doi: 10.1111 / jtm.12005 .
- ↑ Vandellia cirrhosa on Fishbase.org (English)
- ^ Goulding, M. (1989): Amazon. The flooded forest . London: BBC books.
- ↑ Schraml, E. (2006): Pareiodon microps - a parasitic catfish? AqualogNews , No. 72: 20-21.
literature
- John B. Herman: Candiru: Urinophilic catfish - Its gift to urology. Urology 1 (3): 265-267 ( 1973 ).
- EW Gudger: Bookshelf browsing on the Alleged Penetration of the Human Urethra by an Amazonian Catfish Called Candiru. Americal Journal of Surgery 8 (1): 170-188, 443-457 ( 1930 ).
- JL Breault: Candiru: Amazonian parasitic catfish. Journal of Wilderness Medicine 2 (1991), pp. 304-312 (review article, as PDF )
