Does anyone know if there is any poison in the spikes.
Got spiked bad last night. Went into my thumb about half an inch. Intense pain that got worse over the next 4 hours.
Lucky I still had some good drugs at home left over from when I broke my back a few hears ago.
Thumb is really swollen and still hurts like hell. Apart from normal infection concerns, are there any other nasties in the spikes?
Cheech
nah. i don't think they are poisonous. but don't expect your thumb to heal within a month.
Nope, but there's a *high* risk of infection if it isn't cleaned properly .Originally Posted by Cheech
kev
Kingtin,
Is that a big shovelnose that your holding?
G'Day Cheech,I would have to disagree with the above statements,Catfish spines are covered in a substance,that while not fatal,will certainly impart a nasty sting.Considering that the recomended treatment for these stings is emersion in hot water,or a trip to outpatients,I would think that this substance is toxic and probably protien based.
Yes Ricko.
Caught 'em a lot bigger but not on 5kilo line like this one:-) This one was off sandgate jetty.
kev
Booted a catty off a jetty once and the dam spike went straight through my shoe into my toe. couldn't wear a shoe for a week and lost a nail off my toe.
Got nailed another time by one of those eel tail catties and i'd have to say that sucker packed a mean punch, the lymph glands under my arm were throbbing. The only thing that i could do to ease the pain was apply ice and continue fishing to keep my mind off the pain.
Dont worry you'll be back fishing in no time!
Just checked the good old grant's guide to fishes and it reakons that they're not poisonous but they have serrated edges that make the wound considerably worse. I was under the same impression as banshee actually. It is an older addition (1984) so there is no reason that it could have some kind of nasty slime on it that they didn't know about.
Hi Banshee,
Cheech asked if they were poisonous. They're not in that they aren't designed to deliver poison. Their mucus is incidental to the wound infection. They don't deliver poison per se, but agreed, (as I've found out the hard way) they can bloody well hurt (sting) and the wounds *can* get infected as can puncture wounds by *all* fish.
Splitting hairs I suppose <shrug>
kev
g'day cheech,
yeah i'm sure you were in pain mate. i had one go straight through my boot last year. it bloody hurt, but of you wash it out properly and apply antiseptic you should be right within a week. i couldnt walk for a while either, without pain. but it did heal well. so you should be right mate. take care.
cuzza
Finally stopped hurting, but took 15 hours (break out the violins). Thought I better get it checked by a GP (outpatients on a public holiday,, probably have a very long wait) so drove around trying to find an open medical centre. Suppose to be open 7 days a week but all were closed.
Oh well, will wait till tomorrow. Note to self,,, don't get sick on a public holiday.
Jeremy makes a good point,what you call blue catfish,we call a dog fish down here,if you were spiked by a forked tail saltwater catfish they are not poisoness.If the catfish was an eel tailed saltwater cat fish however,according to Grants the venom needs to be expressed from the wound and doust in hot water.He goes on to say that stings may require medical attention in the form of an antihistaminic or local anaesthetic injection depending on the species you are stung by.So taking into account that Grant uses the terms venom and sting,and considering that the delivery method is identicle to that of other poisonous fish,ie stone fish,I would consider that these fish were indeed poisonous........Just to split an already split hair.
Gday Cheech
According to Dr Carl Edmonds 'Marine animal injuries to man'
Catfish do indeed have venom. The venom is a heat labile, water soluble protein. It is a vascoconstrictor.
Thunderbird
Ice can actually increase the pain rather than relieve it. The treatment for most fish spine stings is immersion in water as hot as you can stand it without burning yourself. You should always place an unafected part of the body in the water first to guage whether the water is to hot or not.
Regards, Tony
The heat part makes sense because when I showered when I got in, the pain reduced significantly.
Also, for the first 3 or 4 hours the pain spread to my wrist and a bit in the elbow. Made retrieving and securing the boat a lot of fun.
Have always had a rule of never letting a catfish inside the boat due to the slime. Now have a new rule to never try to retrieve a hook. Just cut off no matter what.
If a catsifh takes a lure and you want to avoid a spiking, use either lip grippers or a thick rag to control the fish whilst using a hook out.
Same applies to flatties.
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