Health

Three-Inch Fish Allegedly Found Alive…in Boy’s Lung

Little boys are known to swallow a myriad of items. As you may recall, they are in fact full of rats and snails and puppy dog tails. But a new item can be added to the list for one 12-year-old Indian boy.

Inquisitr reports Anil Barela in India’s Khargone district was playing a game that involved catching a live fish and swallowing it. Just as a sip of water can go down the wrong pipe, so did this fish. Allegedly, it went into Barela’s lungs, requiring a surgical operation for removal. According to reports, when doctors went in to retrieve the 9 cm (3.5 inch) fish, it was still alive and kicking:

According to Dr. Pramod Jhawar, the operation lasted a total of 45 minutes while they removed the fish from the lung.

The doctor also stated that “the fish was alive and taking its last breath when the bronchoscopy was done.”

Live Fish Surgically Removed From Indian Boys Lung

Alleged X-ray showing the fish. (Photo: The Nation)

Live Fish Surgically Removed From Indian Boys Lung

Here the fish has been removed from the lung. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

This video of the brochoscopy apparently shows the fish flopping (Note: language is in Hindi):

The fish is reported to have died shortly after being removed.

The Times of India reports Jhawar saying this is the first time he has seen a case like this in his 20 years practicing medicine.

If you don’t think you can inhale items such as this, USA Today reported a couple years ago that items such as a belly button ring, a fish bone, beans and a thumbtack have been found in lungs before. What do you think of this “lung fish” story? A bit fishy?

[H/T io9]

This story has been update to include other items found in lungs before. 

Comments (47)

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  • Wat Tyler
    Posted on June 5, 2012 at 1:43am

    Very funny. This is obviously a fake. It belongs in the National Enquirer right next to the “UFO Visits White House” story.

    Report Post » Wat Tyler  
    • TROONORTH
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 8:44am

      A ufo visited the white house??!!!???? Was that the one with michael rennie in it?

      Report Post » TROONORTH  
    • Wat Tyler
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 11:27am

      Taking a lesson from Beck: I’ll sell you a newsletter that tells you all about it.

      Report Post » Wat Tyler  
  • Soothsayer
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 8:34pm

    Uhhh……would not the anesthesia (hopefully used for a lung operation) prevent said fish from “kicking around” or even kill it.
    Not to mention the other observations on previous posts.
    I do believe this story is wrought with BS.

    Report Post »  
  • IslandMama
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 5:40pm

    My niece inhaled a thumbtack when she was a teenager. She was holding it in her lips while putting something on a bulletin board and just accidentally inhaled it. It stuck in her lung and they had to use a gripper thing to get it out. Dropped it on the way out and it stuck again! Ouch! So, yes, things really can get in there …

    Report Post »  
  • DocChiroMB
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 5:31pm

    The X-Ray is an obvious fake. The soft tissue of a fish would appear radiolucent, and only a large bone, such as the skull would appear opaque.

    Report Post »  
    • ASE
      Posted on June 4, 2012 at 6:58pm

      Yup, that was my first thought. That x-ray is a FAKE.

      Report Post »  
    • SgtB
      Posted on June 4, 2012 at 9:27pm

      True, but I have to wonder if the fact that fish scales are reflective might not play a role here. It is obvious that x-rays and visible light are not the same frequency and there is a wholly likely possibility that x-rays may not reflect off the scales at all and the film on the other side would develop like you’ve said, but, then again, maybe not.

      Report Post » SgtB  
    • Deborah
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 6:40am

      I’m with you. This is photo-shopped. I worked as a radiologic technologist for well over a decade. The shadow of the fish shows too much contrast to be within the patient. In reality, it would resemble surrounding tissue with the kilovoltage needed to actually penetrate the chest area.

      Report Post » Deborah  
  • disque-0-duc
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 5:21pm

    Can I have the butterflies in my stomach surgically removed too?

    Report Post » disque-0-duc  
  • Dismayed Veteran
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 4:39pm

    Surgery conducted by Elvis.

    Report Post » Dismayed Veteran  
  • wesurroundthem88
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 4:39pm

    The picture in the “news” article is obviously fake. An x ray of a fish would show its BONES not an entire outline of the fish. See the link below to see a REAL x ray of fish.

    http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/photographicproject/enlarged/photogravurelge.html#oogleto:http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/photographicproject/images/photogravure.jpg

    Report Post »  
    • Deborah
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 6:55am

      Please do not compare a radiograph of a fish alone with the radiograph of a chest. Different techniques would be used. However, (and see my post above), I do believe the radiograph of the chest with the outline of the fish is photo-shopped. There is too much contrast between the fish and surrounding human tissue. The kilovoltage (kv) needed to penetrate a chest radiograph (that would be considered a diagnostic image) would produce an image with less contrast than that which is being depicted. But I am willing to stand corrected, as the kv may have been adjusted to produce an image with more contrast.

      Report Post » Deborah  
  • navydoc2008
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 3:31pm

    X-ray is complete fake. There is very little calcium in a fish. Therefore, it should be nowhere as bright, Nor would you be able to see a full outline. Also, the fish is headed in the wrong direction, it’s fins and scales prevent it from sliding down a gullet backwards. One final observation the fins are all fully deployed, which if it were truly wedged into a tight space (0.8cm dia. for 12yo boy) it would look very compressed.

    Report Post »  
    • Tom K
      Posted on June 4, 2012 at 4:25pm

      @ NAVYDOC2008 : Unless the entire fish was radioactive, it would NOT shine like this one. ( Could it be an artificial fishing lure minus the hooks ? ) Plus, the fish is too far down into the small bronchial tubes of the lung. Fake Photo / fake story.

      Report Post »  
    • Deborah
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 7:05am

      @Navydoc, I’m with you. Too much contrast is depicted.
      @ Tom K, “radioactivity” is not even issue here. Radioactivity cannot be detected via an x-ray image.

      Report Post » Deborah  
  • karmon7
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 3:07pm

    At least the National Enquirer caught John Edward hiding from them in a hotel bathroom! I‘m glad I don’t pay for this trash Glenn.

    Report Post » karmon7  
    • chazmo
      Posted on June 4, 2012 at 4:40pm

      Right you don’t.. so stop the whining and create your own blog….

      Report Post » chazmo  
    • Wat Tyler
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 1:55am

      What brought that on? I don‘t think he’s whining, Mr. Defensive.

      I think somebody needs to get laid.

      Report Post » Wat Tyler  
  • UnGreen
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 3:05pm

    Damn… It doesn’t look big enough to eat!

    Report Post » UnGreen  
  • carl_in_ohio
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 2:53pm

    Blaze editors,

    You need to stop posting these stupid, tabloid stories.
    You want to be taken as serious journalists.
    If you continue to run these mindless, checkout counter, tabloid articles…
    I’m about ready to give up on your “serious” journalism.

    Report Post »  
  • LeadNotFollow
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 2:46pm

    …
    Stupid kid should not have been swallowing live fish. That’s cruelty toward a living creature.

    People around the world are getting more stupid, more weird, and more cruel.
    Maybe it truly is the end of time.

    Report Post »  
    • jespasinthru
      Posted on June 5, 2012 at 2:09am

      I once saw Steve-O on a Jackass Movie swallow a live goldfish, and then he barfed it back up. And the poor thing was still swimming in a glass of his stomach slime. I wish I had never seen that, because it made me sick to my stomach. Some things you can never unsee. Ugh.

      Report Post » jespasinthru  
  • rickc34
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 2:44pm

    No telling what the next generation is going to put in their lungs

    Report Post »  
  • pocketspy
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 1:32pm

    OFTLOP! If you’re going to post these odd little stories on the Blaze, you should at least put a proper disclaimer that you are not supportive of the story. The Blaze has been posting photoshopped images from other sites with articles that imply the full story is real.

    You guys are starting look more like The Onion.

    Report Post » pocketspy  
  • kaydeebeau
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 1:18pm

    It has been quite sometime since I took Anatomy, but as I recall lungs are more like spongey tissue without hollows that could harbor a fish (or anything else for that matter)

    Report Post » kaydeebeau  
  • scrapadapolis
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 12:58pm

    According to the x-ray the position of the fish is impossible!It might have been lodged in the airway choking him to death but not in the lung itself.The lungs are not hollow,but not unlike a sponge they are tiny air sacs( best way I can describe the lungs without making a liberal spin in circles).

    Report Post » scrapadapolis  
  • nobull14
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 12:53pm

    The story smells fishy ?

    Report Post »  
  • piper60
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 12:41pm

    Jonah’s revenge, clearly.

    Report Post » piper60  
  • theamericanvision
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 12:37pm

    If that’s the x-ray of the fish, it’s not the same fish they removed. There’s the real story! This kid apparently inhaled (and didn’t enjoy it) a fish that can spontaneously change species!

    Report Post » theamericanvision  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on June 4, 2012 at 1:01pm

      Yep, and the fish would show up as bones in the X-Ray and not a black and white (or negative) photo of a fish….

      Report Post » The-Monk  
  • Jackie Rogers, Jr.
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 12:26pm

    A lung fish?

    Report Post » Jackie Rogers, Jr.  
  • KickinBack
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 12:24pm

    Mom always told me not to inhale my food but…

    Report Post » KickinBack  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 12:23pm

    Kind of like “Jonah and the Whale” in reverse. : )

    Report Post » The-Monk  
  • Tri-ox
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 12:22pm

    “As you may recall, they are in fact full of rats and snails and puppy dog tails.” Huh?

    Actually, the nursery rhyme goes like this, “What are little boys made of? Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails …“ Where did ”RATS” come from?

    Report Post » Tri-ox  
  • thegreatcarnac
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 12:20pm

    Aqua lung lives.

    Report Post »  
  • deeberj
    Posted on June 4, 2012 at 12:20pm

    weird.

    Report Post » deeberj  
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