Talking of catfish....there's a species in S.America (more than one, perhaps) that has long, 'locking', pointed pectoral fins. When you swing one in, they lock these fins at right angles to their bodies rendering them difficult to hold and unhook (the spikes really are dangerous)
I caught a couple of these in the outer-reaches of the Orinoco Delta a couple of years back and later warned my brother who was due to fish in Peru.
Sure enough, he found himself on the Amazon a few months later and did, in fact, hook one of these little blighters...as he went to grip it, out shot the spines, one of which went straight through the web of skin between thumb and forefinger. Now, these spines are barbed so the only way of getting rid of it is to cut the spine off - only then can you mop up the blood and scream freely.This is what bruv did, vowing never to make the same mistake.................continued further down....
