The candirú is a tiny catfish which dwells in the depths of the Amazon River These fish do not hunt in packs like the piranha, nor are they exceptionally large like the anaconda The story of the candiru fish—a little Amazon catfish notorious for its habit of swimming up the urethra of male swimmers, planting itself with pointy little barbs, and parasitically feasting on their genitals from within!—was catnip to the Internet, endlessly circulated on listicles of scary animal encounters and hardtobelieve trivia Candiru also known as toothpick fish, is a parasitic freshwater catfish native to the Amazon River Although some candiru species have been known to grow to a size of 16 inches (~41 cm) in length, others are considerably smaller These smaller species are known for an alleged tendency to invade and parasitize the human urethra
Cadaveric Ichthyofauna Of The Madeira River In The Amazon Basin The Myth Of Man Eating Piranhas Springerlink
