A group of friends from the Netherlands were drinking when they turned their attention to the aquarium. One tried to swallow a live catfish but this only resulted to a visit to the emergency room.
According to the case published in Acta Oto-Laryngologica Case Reports, a group was having fun drinking and taking ecstasy in 2016 when they shifted their eyes to the fish tank. Inspired by the now-defunct extreme MTV show Jackass, they decided to follow one act of one of the stars of the series, Steve-O, wherein he would swallow a goldfish.
Gulping Goldfish First
A two-minute video showed how it all went down: the first round had the friends gulping one goldfish each, which went down their throats smoothly. To top off the "meal," they washed it down by drinking more beer.
After which, one of them, an unidentified 28-year-old, volunteered to drink the last remaining creature in the aquarium, about 2-and-a-half-inch spiky bronze catfish. Prior to this, one tried ingesting the same fish but deemed it too big to swallow.
The said victim tried gobbling up the catfish by drinking more beer while his friends cheered him on saying "Grote vis! Grote vis!," which means "Big fish! Big fish!"
However, the man learned that he couldn't swallow the catfish and began gagging. His friends, who were initially laughing and rooting for him, were extremely shocked of what's happening.
Catfish Spines
After the patient vomited liquid, he tried inserting two fingers to forcibly trigger his gag reflex in a bid to vomit the catfish. He instead spewed blood and tried using honey, ice cream, and more beer to treat himself before he went to the hospital.
"The fish had to be removed endoscopically. Intubation and admittance to the intensive care unit was necessary due to laryngeal oedema," the report said.
The catfish when under stress erects its spines and releases a venom. As for the case of the drunk man, he fully recovered within two weeks of the fish's removal from his esophagus.
