A drunk man's near-fatal attempt to swallow a live catfish has been described as one of "the weirdest medical cases I've encountered" by the doctor who treated the patient.
The incident, detailed in a new case report, took place in April, 2016, at a party in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
"Inspired by Jackass (a TV show about self-injuring stunts), some friends topped off a drinking party with live fishes from their aquarium," Dr Linda Benoist wrote in journal Acta Oto-Laryngologica Case Reports.
"After the goldfishes had gone down smoothly, a bronze catfish was ingested."
Video of the attempt - sadly unavailable - showed one man trying to swallow the spine-covered fish and failing, spitting it back out onto the table.
Another man picked it up and handed it to a third man, who managed to get the poor creature - still alive - wedged in his throat.
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"The catfish erected and locked the spines of its pectoral fins and got lodged in the hypopharynx," wrote Dr Benoist.
The man tried washing it down with beer, but it wouldn't budge. He stuck his fingers to the back of his throat - that didn't work either. Someone tried a "wrongly-applied Heimlich manoeuvre" which also failed.
The video ends with the man spewing blood into a bucket, the fish still stuck. He reportedly tried drinking more beer, and eating honey and ice cream, before calling for an ambulance - several hours later.
When he finally arrived in hospital, the fish was dead from suffocation. Surgeons managed to remove it, the venom not causing any complications. When doctors examined him almost a year later, he was doing well.
"This is definitely in the top three of weirdest medical cases I've encountered," Dr Benoist told LiveScience.
"I'm not an expert in goldfish swallowers, but I can imagine that fish species without [spikes] would slide easier into the stomach."
The fish is now on display at the Rotterdam Natural History Museum.
Newshub.
