Chinese surgeons have reportedly worked through the night to remove a live eel from a man’s backside.
The unmarried man, who arrived alone at a hospital casualty unit in Shunde, Guangdong province, told medics he had been imitating a porn film when he inserted the eel.
"Please, please help me. The eel is moving through my body," he begged.
Scroll down for more pictures
An X-ray shows the still live eel in the man's body
Surgeons finally removed the 20 inch long Asian swamp eel - which weighed more than half a kilo - in the early hours of the morning after a lengthy procedure involving drugs and medical probes.
"The eel was simply trying to find it's way out," explained one of the medical team.
"It was still alive when we got it out but it died soon afterwards, which was probably a mercy.
"This was a particularly idiotic stunt and could have caused him a serious injury. Eels have small but very sharp teeth," he added.
A police spokesman said: "We are aware of what happened and a 39-year-old man will be interviewed over alleged animal cruelty."
As far fetched as this sounds, it turns out eel porn is a “thing”.
Four years ago Vice magazine filmed an interview with Japanese director Daikichi Amano, who found fame after making a film in which “100 baby eels which came out of a girl’s ass”.
SEE ALSO:
Amano, who also shoots with worms, frogs, fish and octopus, gallanty tried it himself – but only managed to insert “between 20 and 30” eels into his own rectum.
Amateurs attempting eel porn are responsible for more medical emergencies than you probably think.
In September last year a spokesman for a New Zealand hospital confirmed an unnamed patient had been treated after arriving with an eel in his backside.
Matt Rogers of the Auckland District Health Board told the New Zealand Herald: “We can confirm that an adult male presented at Auckland City Hospital with an eel inside him.
“No further comment will be made out of respect for the patient’s right to privacy.”
Sadly it’s not all fits and giggles. In 2010 Shanghaiist reported on the death of a man who was killed after an eel he had inserted into his rectum gnawed through his bowels.
The 59-year-old was admitted to a Sichuan hospital complaining of abdominal pain, dehydration and anal bleeding.
His friend told doctors the eel had been inserted “as a joke”.