Aquarium killer, or Don't offend the little ones

Everyone has heard stories about killer catfish that swallow people whole. Let's leave the truthfulness of these tales on the conscience of the narrators. But the story of how a man swallowed a killer catfish, or rather a catfish, is absolutely real. Moreover, the doctors barely managed to save the patient, whose joke could well have ended tragically.

In one of the parts of the popular extreme show "Cranks", a trick with an aquarium goldfish was shown. One of the team members, Steve-O, swallowed her and then spat her out alive.

A company of young people from the Netherlands, impressed by the extreme antics, decided to repeat it. Like most interesting ideas, this one came to their mind after a hefty dose of alcohol and the use of light drugs.

In the apartment where the feast took place, there was an aquarium with fish, which drunken magicians quickly caught with glasses. Swallowing goldfish alive, washed down with beer, is not difficult at all, and it was decided to abandon the second part of the trick, with the extraction of unfortunate pets.

But one of the guys did not have enough goldfish and he decided to swallow what was left, or rather a golden catfish, 5 centimeters long. Encouraged by the shouts of friends who chanted in chorus "Big fish! Big fish!", a drunken homegrown illusionist made two attempts to swallow the poor catfish. If he had abandoned the idea after the first, unsuccessful experience, no one would have found out about this story. But the second time was effective and the fish slipped into the esophagus.

Catfish was traditionally washed down with beer, but after drinking a foamy drink, it became quite obvious that he was not going to move to the stomach and decided to settle in the throat. Neither an attempt to induce a gag reflex, nor horse doses of beer, ice cream and honey helped to get rid of the fish. The only effect that was achieved was an acute sore throat and bleeding.

A couple of hours later, when all the artisanal methods were tried, friends took the joker to the nearest clinic. The strange patient did not want to explain to the doctors what was the reason for his plight and simply complained that he choked on food. But the X-ray immediately showed that there was a fish inside the guy and he had to admit to performing a stupid trick.

Doctors managed to extract the dead fish from the patient's throat, after which he was prescribed a week-long course of antibiotics. The guy went home, and the remains of the poor catfish - to the Museum of Natural History of the city of Rotterdam, where everyone can see them.

Why did this situation arise, which almost cost a young man his life? It turns out that harmless-looking golden catfish (bronze corydoras), in their natural habitat, have a bad reputation among predators. Behind the fins of these fish are sharp hard spikes, which they, in case of danger, lift up straight. Ideally, this should prevent a large fish from swallowing a baby. But man is arranged somewhat differently and the spikes detained the catfish where neither he nor his victim could do anything.

Thus, the kamikaze fish, dying a not too good death, almost took her abuser with her to the next world. In general, the point here is not even in the anatomical features of catfish of this species, but in the very fact of swallowing objects and creatures that are not intended for this. Doctors can give many examples when harmless pranks of this kind ended much worse for experimenters.

Do you know similar cases of swallowing not quite edible things?