# Can the candiru fish swim up your urethra? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 19, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751 "2013-05-19T18:54:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diaspora](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/diaspora/32/5595_2.png) [@Diaspora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diaspora)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/1 "2013-05-19T18:54:40Z")
> **[Can the candirú fish swim upstream into your urethra?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343673/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-upstream-into-your-urethra)** From the post: > [@](#): > > from a 1973 article in Urology by John Herman: > > One of the strangest [stories from the Amazon concerned] a fish that was urinophilic and could swim up the urethra or \*\*into the vagina \*\*of the unwary native who urinated while bathing in the Amazon. (emphasis mine) Another quote: > [@](#): > > Still, it’s difficult to imagine how even the most agile of fishes could squirm into someone’s penis during a brief dip in the water, and in fact one account says\*\* women are much more likely to be candirú victims due to the greater dimensions of the female aperture.\*\* (again, emphasis mine) What the hell? Surely both Cecil and this John Herman guy are both adults? And they know women don’t urinate through their vaginas? :smack: We have plain little old urethras, just like you fellas … ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/2 "2013-05-19T19:52:33Z")
Uh, Diaspora- “female aperture” might not refer to the urethra. ---
**Author:** ![Diaspora](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/diaspora/32/5595_2.png) [@Diaspora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diaspora)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/3 "2013-05-19T20:23:11Z")
Pretty sure you’re not getting the point. Did you read the article (or my post, for that matter?) ---
**Author:** ![Diaspora](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/diaspora/32/5595_2.png) [@Diaspora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diaspora)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/4 "2013-05-19T20:30:15Z")
Point being, why would someone think that a urinophilic fish would follow a stream of urine into a woman’s vagina, unless they were under the impression that that’s where the pissy stream originates? ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/5 "2013-05-19T20:44:28Z")
I’m guessing the urine just leads them to the general area. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/6 "2013-05-19T20:54:35Z")
> [@emcee2k](#): > > I’m guessing the urine just leads them to the general area. This. The fish gets confused and swims up the nearest opening ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/7 "2013-05-19T23:10:38Z")
> [@Diaspora](#): > > Point being, why would someone think that a urinophilic fish would follow a stream of urine into a woman’s vagina, unless they were under the impression that that’s where the pissy stream originates? Grey’s Anatomy (the medical book, not the TV show) says that the urethra is embedded in the wall of the vagina, so how else would the fish get to it? > [@](#): > > The female urethra (Fig. 1139) is a narrow membranous canal, about 4 cm. long, extending from the internal to the external urethral orifice. It is placed behind the symphysis pubis, **imbedded in the anterior wall of the vagina** , and its direction is obliquely downward and forward ---
**Author:** ![Diaspora](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/diaspora/32/5595_2.png) [@Diaspora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diaspora)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/8 "2013-05-20T15:52:30Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Grey’s Anatomy (the medical book, not the TV show) says that the urethra is embedded in the wall of the vagina, so how else would the fish get to it? The anterior wall on the OUTSIDE of the vagina, not the inside. Otherwise, a woman wouldn’t be able to urinate with an inserted tampon. The urethra and the vagina have two separate and distinct vulvar openings; the vajayjay and the urethra aren’t roommates or anything. They’re next-door neighbors. [http://secretlaboratory.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Labiaplasty-Diagram.jpg](http://secretlaboratory.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Labiaplasty-Diagram.jpg) If a fish is following the urine stream, there’d be no reason for it to get confused and suddenly enter the vagina for no apparent reason. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/9 "2013-05-20T16:02:22Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Grey’s Anatomy (the medical book, not the TV show) says that the urethra is embedded in the wall of the vagina, so how else would the fish get to it? The text book is describing the anatomical path of the passage, which runs on the interior of the human body. Just like the make urethra runs up the penis and through the prostate, which is next to the colon. And you know how doctors check the prostate - it doesn’t involve sticking a finger up the penis. The female urethra opening is not within the vagina, though it is within the labia. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/10 "2013-05-20T18:04:27Z")
> [@](#): > > One of the strangest [stories from the Amazon concerned] a fish that was urinophilic and could swim up the urethra **or** into the vagina of the unwary native who urinated while bathing in the Amazon. Note the use of “or”. This implies that he realized that the two are alternatives. If he had used “and”, I’d agree with you and wonder about Herman’s grasp of female anatomy. But as it is, I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/11 "2013-05-20T18:23:01Z")
> [@Diaspora](#): > > Point being, why would someone think that a urinophilic fish would follow a stream of urine into a woman’s vagina, unless they were under the impression that that’s where the pissy stream originates? Hey, just be glad it wasn’t a salmon. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/12 "2013-05-20T22:42:10Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > Note the use of “or”. This implies that he realized that the two are alternatives. If he had used “and”, I’d agree with you and wonder about Herman’s grasp of female anatomy. > > But as it is, I don’t. I read that as “the urethra [of a male] **or** into the vagina [of a female]”. **Diaspora** ’s point is well taken – there is a marked lack of any attempt to distinguish between the two openings. But I think **emcee2k** and **April R** have the right of it. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Keithvdw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@Keithvdw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keithvdw)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-candiru-fish-swim-up-your-urethra/658751/13 "2013-05-22T05:51:50Z")
What the candiru track is ammonia/uric acid emissions to locate their target, with the goal of finding fish on which to attach themselves. The urine just leads them to the general area and they burrow in to the softest, most blood-filled flesh available. While they have to burrow inside the urethra to hit that motherload of fleshy blood-filled tissue in the penis, the labia and vagina would provide a much larger, easier target right next to the urethra in females. So… try not to think about it too much, either way. I imagine they would burrow in to any fleshy orifice, it’s just that the urethra is the one that is emitting a scent trail to attract them.