pleco question

[Phoenixphire55]

I've read on a site that Plecos can hurt your hand somehow with their pectoral fins. Is that true? Can the 12 inch+ plecos hurt you with their fins or anything else?

 

[QTOFFER]

Some plecos have a retractable spine just behind their gills. They extend it if they're frightened and it gives predators reason to pause before swallowing them live. I can personally say that it makes netting them a bit more stressful for everyone involved because you have to carefully extricate them without hurting them or tearing the net. No plecos are poisonous, as far as I know, and I've never heard of anyone being hurt by this spine.