Fish Known For Biting Male Testciles Caught By Fishermen ...
An extremely weird fish with human-like teeth nicknamed “the nutcracker” was caught outside its native habitat in South American waters.
Father and son, Ron and Frank Rossi, were fishing at New Jersey lake when they caught a fish they thought was a piranha. On closer inspection they realised it was, in fact, a very rare omnivorous fresh-water fish called the pacu.
An extremely weird fish with human-like teeth was caught by fishermen
Normally found in the Amazon, it is closely related to the piranha and an reach up to 0.9 m and 25 kg. While they are not aggressive carnivores like the piranha, their crushing jaw system, used primarily for eating seeds and nuts, can be hazardous.
On closer inspection they realised it was, in fact, a very rare omnivorous fresh-water fish called the pacu
In recent years there were series of incidents with people claiming that the fish eats the testicles of swimmers and fishermen. This led to media reports mistakenly warning that the fish could attack male testicles. The reports were based on a joke that was not meant to be taken seriously.
This specimen was caught in Paris last year
Pacu are commonly sold as “Vegetarian Piranhas” to home aquarium owners, who when they got tired of their pets release them into wild waterways. If a large population of pacu enters an eco-system to which it isn’t native, the fish can have a very adverse effect on local fauna.
Today, the Amazon river is experiencing a crisis of overfishing. Both subsistence fishers and their commercial rivals compete in netting large quantities of pacu, which bring good prices at markets in Brazil and abroad. Various species of pacu are increasingly being used for farm fishing around the world.
An extremely weird fish with human-like teeth was caught by fishermen
Normally found in the Amazon, it is closely related to the piranha and an reach up to 0.9 m and 25 kg. While they are not aggressive carnivores like the piranha, their crushing jaw system, used primarily for eating seeds and nuts, can be hazardous.
On closer inspection they realised it was, in fact, a very rare omnivorous fresh-water fish called the pacu
In recent years there were series of incidents with people claiming that the fish eats the testicles of swimmers and fishermen. This led to media reports mistakenly warning that the fish could attack male testicles. The reports were based on a joke that was not meant to be taken seriously.
This specimen was caught in Paris last year
Pacu are commonly sold as “Vegetarian Piranhas” to home aquarium owners, who when they got tired of their pets release them into wild waterways. If a large population of pacu enters an eco-system to which it isn’t native, the fish can have a very adverse effect on local fauna.
Today, the Amazon river is experiencing a crisis of overfishing. Both subsistence fishers and their commercial rivals compete in netting large quantities of pacu, which bring good prices at markets in Brazil and abroad. Various species of pacu are increasingly being used for farm fishing around the world.
