Attack Catfish

As most of you know, on Wednesday at work I was attacked by a catfish. Sadly, though, this catfish was only about 3 inches long, so it's not nearly as cool as being attacked at a river by a 3 foot long catfish. Anyway, the Pictus catfish (Pimolodus pictus) has really long "whiskers" with barbels at the end. Also during my research, I have discovered they have a sharp dorsal spine on the frontal end of their dorsal fin. I have no idea if it was the spine or the barbels that got me, all I know is that one second I was scrubbing a tank and the next minute my finger was on fire and the stupid fish would not let go. I was shaking it off my finger for several seconds until it finally let go. Holy cow, it hurt. A LOT. I got stung around the middle joint of my index finger, it swelled up to the tip of my finger down to almost on my thumb. It was bright red and extremely warm to the touch. The puncture hole actually bled for a little bit and was white in the near vicinity. This was definitely the most painful sting I have ever experienced. I would have ignored it, but the incident nurse that my work called told me I should be seen by a doctor passed on the symptoms. So $300 worth of antibiotics later, my finger is doing much better. You can still see the puncture, and my finger might be a little bit swollen around the area, but it's doing much better. And let me assure you, I will never, ever stick my hand in that tank again. Ever. Someone else will have to get the fish if any one wants one.

On an extremely happy note, the next day, one of the catfish was lying on it's side at the bottom of the tank breathing hard and it later died. I laughed at it. Serves it right.