Angry puffer fish goes nuts
June 17, 2008 - 3:25PM
A puffer fish ... but this one's probably not enraged.
A Cambodian teenager was recovering in hospital after a puffer fish attacked him in the groin, local media reported on Tuesday.
The Khmer-language Koh Santepheap daily ran a picture of the unnamed 13-year-old in a hospital bed with heavy strapping around his testicles, saying he was lucky to be alive.
The paper quoted the boy's father, Sok Ly, as saying the fish had become enraged when it was accidentally trapped in the boy's net and, when it was freed, had attacked the boy's scrotum.
Cambodian legend has it that the bite of the fish is even more dangerous than its poisonous spines, especially for boys, and Cambodian boys are traditionally advised not to swim in waters where the fish is common.
The victim, from Prek Pneuv commune outside Phnom Penh, was expected to recover from yesterday's attack, the paper said, but the extent of the damage had yet to be determined.