Vandellia cirrhosa Valenciennes, 1846

Candiru

Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL

Classification	Actinopterygii \| Siluriformes \| Trichomycteridae
Synonyms	Urinophilus erythrurus, Vandellia gigantea, Vandellia plazaii, ... more
Common names	Canero, Wandelia a. kandyra, 红尾锤形鲶, ... more

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Picture by Sazima, I.

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Main reference

de Pínna, M.C.C. and W. Wosiacki. 2003. (Ref. 39970)
Other references | Biblio | Coordinator : Pinna, Mário de | Collaborators

Size / Weight / Age

Max length : 17.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 39970)

Environment

Demersal; freshwater

Climate / Range

Tropical

South America: Amazon River basin.
Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Enters the gill cavity of larger fish to suck blood; burrows in sandy bottoms. Known to enter the urethra of humans urinating under water; presumably it mistakes the urea for water exhausted from gills. The incorporation of this species in fish-based house security systems has been suggested (see Ref. 9506). When inactive, it remains buried in soft, muddy bottom. Active both during daytime and at night while foraging for blood (Ref. 50921). Uses visual and chemo-sensory orientation to find potential hosts (Ref. 50919, 50921). Forces itself under the gill cover of host fish to enter gill chamber during ventilation of the latter. Bites mostly at the ventral or dorsal aorta arteries, and the blood is pumped into its gut by the host's blood pressure. It does not need any special sucking or pumping mechanism to quickly engorge itself with blood, but simply uses its needle-like teeth to make an incision in an artery. Thus, the notion of the blood-sucking candiru is a misleading concept. Able to engorge itself enormously, the ingested blood is visible through the swollen belly. Some kind of valve or sphincter is likely present to prevent reflux of ingested blood. Time required to engorge itself with blood and leave host’s gill chamber ranges from 30 to 145 seconds. Some host fish species (Colossoma macropomum) are able to hamper candiru’s attacks by pressing it under the membranous gill-cover flap, or by using its pectoral fin to press it against the flank or to sweep it from the gill-cover edge (Ref. 50921).


IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 57073)	Threat to humans
Not Evaluated	Traumatogenic (Ref. 557)

Human uses
Fisheries: of no interest


More information
Countries FAO areas Ecosystems Occurrences Introductions Ecology Diet Food items Food consumption Ration	Common names Synonyms Metabolism Predators Ecotoxicology Reproduction Maturity Spawning Eggs Egg development	Age/Size Growth Length-weight Length-length Length-frequencies Morphometrics Morphology Larvae Larval dynamics Recruitment	Other references Biblio Aquaculture Aquaculture profile Strains Genetics Allele frequencies Heritability Diseases Processing	Collaborators Pictures Stamps Sounds Ciguatera Speed Swim. type Gill area Otoliths Brains Vision

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Internet sources

Estimation of some characteristics with mathematical models

Resilience (Ref. 69278)


Vulnerability (Ref. 59153)	Price category (Ref. 80766)
Low vulnerability (11 of 100)	Not marketed/unknown

Entered by Froese, Rainer

Modified by Torres, Armi G.

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Page last modified by : elaxamana, 15 July 2009

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