| |
| Doctor fish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the freshwater fish used for treatment of skin diseases, notably in Kangal district, Turkey. For the species sometimes called doctor fish in the UK, see tench. For the marine fishes known as surgeonfishes, see Acanthuridae.
Doctor fish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Actinopterygii
Order:
Cypriniformes
Family:
Cyprinidae
Genus:
Garra
Species:
G. rufa
Binomial name
Garra rufa
Heckel, 1846
Doctor fish is the name given to two species of fish: Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomus. Other nicknames include nibble fish, kangal fish, and doctorfishen; in non-medical contexts, Garra rufa is called the reddish log sucker. They live and breed in the outdoor pools of some Turkish spas, where they feed on the skin of patients with psoriasis. The fish are like combfishes in that they only consume the affected and dead areas of the skin, leaving the healthy skin to grow, with the outdoor location of the treatment bringing beneficial effects. The spas are not meant as a treatment option, only as a temporary cure for symptoms, and patients usually revisit the spas every few months. Some patients have experienced complete cure of psoriasis after repeated treatments, but due to the unpredictable nature of the disease, which is strongly influenced by endogenous factors, this may simply be regression towards the mean.
Garra rufa occurs in the river basins of the Northern and Central Middle East, mainly in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. It is legally protected from commercial exploitation in Turkey due to concerns of overharvesting for export. Garra rufa can be kept in an aquarium at home; while not strictly a "beginner's fish", it is quite hardy. For treatment of skin diseases, aquarium specimens are not well suited as the skin-feeding behavior fully manifests only under conditions where the food supply is somewhat scarce and unpredictable.
In 2006, doctor fish spa resorts opened in Hakone, Japan, and in Umag, Croatia, where the fish are used to clean the bathers at the spa. There are also spas in resorts in China, such as Hainan and South Korea where there are a chain of cafes called Doctor Fish Cafe. Singapore has three locations offering the fish treatment, called Kampong Fish Therapy, Fish Reflexology and Fish Spa.
Dr Fish is now available commercially thanks to a breeder in China. Dr Fish spa as a franchise chain is now available globally developed specially by FISHO.
[edit] References
Garra rufa (TSN 689117). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 30 January 2006.
"Garra rufa". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. 10 2005 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2005.
[edit] External links
FISHO - Dr Fish Spa Franchise
Free online research article in Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Ichthyotherapy Treatment Facility in Vienna, Austria
BBC Video
Reuters - Turkish "doctor fish" nibble at Japanese market
- Croatian BBC Video
This Cypriniformes-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
|
|
|
