Fun (or perhaps disturbing)Fact of the Day 6/10

So, the reader submission thing didn't really work, but that's fine, it's to be expected, after all. Instead, I will regale you with one of the decidedly less fun facts that I know, particularly if you're male. It concerns small catfish of the amazon in the Trichomycteridae family, collectively known as Candiru. Now, alot of myth surrounds the rather nasty parasitic habits of this fish, but much of it is simply hype. What is true is that there is at least one documented case of one of these little fish entering and affixing to the walls of a man's urethra. Yep, that little thing swam right up into his penis and spread it's spines...ouch. It had to be surgically removed. But males will be relieved to know that the supposed attraction of these fish to urine is in fact not true, as is the myth that they can swim up urine streams (yuck...). Instead, these little guys root about for food in the slightly acidic mud at the bottom of still parts of the Amazon, and tend to avoid humans as a natural source of parasitic attachment. Still, it does make one shudder just a wee bit, if you'll pardon the pun.