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Sazima, I, J Zuanon & V Haddad, 2005. Puncture wounds by driftwood catfish during bucket baths: Local habits of riverside people and fish natural history in the Amazon. Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, 16: 204â??208.

Abstract

Objective.-To assess the prevalence of stings by small spiny driftwood catfish (carataf) of the genus Centromochlus (Auchenipteridae) accidentally caught in buckets during bucket bathing by riverside people along the Brazilian Amazon and to determine the probability of catching specimens of these fish during random throws of a bucket into the river.
Methods.-We interviewed 27 adult residents living at the confluence of the Negro and Solimaes rivers in Brazil regarding whether or not they had ever been stung by driftwood catfish while bucket bathing. To assess the likelihood of catching catfish in bathing buckets, we randomly threw a typical plastic bucket used for bathing in 4 series of 10 throws into the river at dusk or night around a floating house.
Results.-Seventeen of the 27 subjects (63%) reported being injured by driftwood catfish during bucket bathing. Three individuals (17.6%) had been injured 2 to 3 times, totaling 23 puncture accidents. All stings occurred at dusk or early night. In the 4 series of 10 bucket throws, we caught 3 driftwood catfish (in 1 series we did not catch any fish). Thus, the chance of catching a driftwood catfish in a single bucket throw at dusk was slightly less than 10%.
Conclusions.-The prevalence of stings by driftwood catfish to people bucket bathing in this section of the Brazilian Amazon is high, partly because of the relatively high chances of catching these small catfish during random throws of a bathing bucket into the river.

So how come the little swines can be so difficult to catch from a tank when there are two nets involved and only a few tens of gallons of of water for them to swim in?!
I'm sure that Centromochlus can somehow disappear on one side of the mesh and rematerialise on the other.

I had 60 odd Corys in a heavily planted 4ft tank.

The only way we could catch 1/2 dozen for my friend, was to have my friend hold the net down in one corner, whilst my Daughter and I acted as the 'beaters', and let our fingers do the walking across the gravel, herding them toward the net.

"Now how did they end up behind us!?" That theory about Catfish Dematerialisation may not be so far fetched...

Can I get a grant to do a similar bucket study in Brazil? I want to see if i can find a better way to get a cheap/free collecting trip to the Amazon River.

I once stepped on a Auchenipterichthys coracoideus!

I was doing a major tank clean and had most of the wood out of the tank and on wet towels on the floor. Despite carefully examining each piece for lodged catfish and loaches it seems one piece containing the midnight cat made it out with its inhabitant still inside.
At some point it must have flipped itself out and thats when I stepped back and felt a sharp pain right in the arch of my foot, fortunately I hadn't put much weight onto it and it was still alive, however it was impaled in my foot and stayed stuck in when I lifted my foot up!

Curiously, the first thing that came to mind was to get the fish back in the water as I didn't know how long it had been out, so I lifted my leg up and put my foot, with catfish still attached, into the tank. Hearing my curses, one of my family rushed into the room to see what the fuss was and was both surprised and no doubt amused to see my predicament.
Only then did I consider removing it and fortunately the dorsal spine had only gone in about 4mm or so, just enough to hold the fish fast whle it tried to swim away. I carefully pulled it out with my fingers and it swam off with no apparant ill-effects and lived happily for some time after that.

Since then I've always double checked any wood or rocks that come out of tanks, although not long after I found a yoyo loach flapping on the carpet up the stairs and half way up the hall, apparantly the dog had carried it up there and then dropped it, perhaps due to the eye spines. This particular loach also survived for quite some time after its adventure.

Barbie wrote:I think I'd make a great girl friday if you get that accomplished ;). I can even take pictures! Hmmm, I cook, I can clean fish, dang, what else can I do that would be of value in the Amazon... handle a net?

Barbie

Bucket bathe?

Maybe I'm missing something, but couldn't the problem be solved by first looking in the bucket to see if there's a woodcat there.

Chrysichthys wrote:Maybe I'm missing something, but couldn't the problem be solved by first looking in the bucket to see if there's a woodcat there.

I guess that depends on the clarity of the water, presence of mind in the bather, and size of the Woodcat...

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Mats