The Candiru fish, also known as toothpick fish, is a small parasitic freshwater catfish. The candiru is famous among South Americans for they allege the candiru fish has the tendency of invading and parasitize the human urethra for those who make the mistake of urinating on the freshwater of the Amazon River.

The candiru fish has a translucent body that makes it difficult to see when in water. The fish can grow as much as 15 cm and loves to feed on the blood of its host. The parasite fish has a very strong sense of detecting respiratory/waste currents in the water and will instantly swim in the direction the respiration waste is coming from and into the body of whoever is producing the waste where they feed on the prey’s blood. Their best preys are other aquatic species such as the larger fish. Similarly, if a man or a woman was to urinate on the fresh water, the cindiru fish will spot the urine as a waste, and like electric current, will instantly follow the source of urine thus entering the human urethra. The fish once in the host will drill a hole in a blood vessel and feed on the blood. Once satisfied, the cindiru fish will dislodge itself and sink back to the river to digest its meal.

In case of humans, the parasite is not able to get out of urethra due to the fin-like spikes or arrow-like spikes but will instead grow inside the urethra. To remove it, you just have to undergo surgery. But the locals have traditional methods of treating the infection by the fish where they use a combination of herbal plants like jagua and buitach apple. The concoction is inserted in the affected area and the fish is killed and then urinated.

Important - importation of candiru is prohibited in USA – so forget about having candiru fish as a pet if you are living in US.

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