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The candirú, or toothpick fish, is found in the River [[Amazon]]. It is shaped like an [[eel]] and translucent, making it hard to see. It can grow up to six inches long. It is a parasite that swims into the gill cavities of other fish, holds itself in place with erectile spines, and latches on to an artery, feeding off the blood that pumps through it. It is attracted to urine as well as blood, and has been known to swim into body orifices and into the urethra, where it erects its spine and feeds as it would from a fish’s gills. It is almost impossible to remove without surgery.
The '''candiru''', or toothpick fish, ''Vandellia cirrhosa'' is a tiny [[parasite|parasitic]] catfish of tropical [[South America]].
Normally the candiru lives an ectoparasitic existence, entering the [[gills|gill]] cavities of larger fish to bite off scraps of tissue or drink their blood.
Although it is only a tiny, translucent [[eel]]-like creature no more than six inches long at most, the candiru is widely feared, perhaps even more so than the [[pirhana]], for its habit of entering the human [[urethra]], which it is popularly believed to locate by following a scent trail. Erectile spines on its head, used to attach to the fish it feeds upon, make it almost impossible to extract without surgery; given the paucity of medical facilities in the [[Amazon River|Amazon]] region, most persons so afflicted die in horrific agony.
[http://www.angelfire.com/biz/piranha038/candiru.html The candiru, and accounts of the extraction procedure]
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