A MAN has had an eel removed from his bladder after it entered his body through his penis.

Zhang Nan, 56, from Hubei province, China, was relaxing in a spa bath with live eels to let them feed on his dead skin when one started travelling up his urethra.

"I climbed into the bath and I could feel the eels nibbling my body," he said. "But then, suddenly I felt a severe pain and realised a small eel had gone into the end of my penis.

"I tried to hold it and take it out, but the eel was too slippery to be held and it disappeared up my penis."

The surgeon who extracted the eel from Zhang's bladder explained: "The diameter of the urethra in a man's penis is just a little narrower. But because eels are quite slippery, its body worked as a lubricant and got into the penis smoothly."

The operation lasted three hours.

The 15cm eel was found dead.