It sounds like something from a horror movie, but the Pacu fish, normally found in the Amazon, has human-like teeth and was recently found in New Jersey – a far cry from the Amazon River. A fisherman named Ron Rossi got a pretty wild surprise when he caught a Pacu this past week, and little did he know, it would make national news.
A few years ago, Pacu fish were featured on an Animal Planet show, and they were a pretty popular topic back then, too. A man on the show claimed he knew two men form New Guinea whose testicles had been bitten off by Pacu fish and the men bled to death as a result. Not long after, Pacu fish earned the name “Testicle-Eating Fish.” Truthfully, Pacu fish aren’t THAT dangerous. Although they are a member of the piranha family, they generally stick to eating plants and some small fish.
Pacu fish, which can be more than forty pounds and three-feet long, are normally found in the Amazon, but it isn’t unheard of to find them in certain parts of the United States. A spokesperson for the New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection said that Pacu fish are often purchased by fish hobbyists and then grow too big to keep in a tank so they end up releasing them into local lakes. Unfortunately for the fresh water Pacu fish, they won’t survive as long in the colder New Jersey water as they can in the Amazon River.
