Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Vampire Catfish of the Amazon

Hey, I do more than just idly pecking away at the keyboard here. I am learning new things from the Internets every day.

Like the discovery in 2005 of a vampire fish in the Amazon. Though really, people have known about this nasty li'l Amazonian critter for some time -- it's been Wiki'd:

"
The author William Burroughs encountered stories about the candirĂº during his travels in South America, and referenced the creature in his book Naked Lunch. Candice Millard's The River of Doubt also presents rumors of attacks heard on Theodore Roosevelt's Amazon trip. The fish is also mentioned in the afterword of author Scott Westerfeld's novel Peeps and in several movies, such as Sniper, The Rundown, Medicine Man, Anaconda, and The Rundown. Novelist Julian Barnes mentions the fish in his book A History of the World in 10½ Chapters, and Chuck Palahniuk references the candirĂº in Fight Club."


6 comments:

  1. Nasty little bugger. As if I wasn't already afraid enough of water.

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  2. Anonymous11:27 AM

    Joe,
    You're obviously not watching enough Animal Planet or Discovery Channel like it's a religious experience if you haven't heard of the damage this critter can perpetrate on a victim.
    Yikes

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  3. ya know, SQ, i did read about this species back in the 80s in Harper's magazine and was utterly freaked at how the critter would swim up into a fellow's whangdoodle and embed it self with spiky anchors. yeeeee-ouch!!

    i just loved that they call the new ones they found Vamprie Catfish. a fun phrase to bandy about!

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  4. Anonymous9:20 PM

    Would this Vampire Catfish impede you from whang(dang)doodling all day?
    I'm guessing the answer is yes!

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  5. yeeeee-ouch!! heh heh

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  6. Anonymous9:09 PM

    vampire catfish suck!LRR

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