Piranha found in Devon river

[RobinP]

According to today's Times, a dead 14 inch Piranha has been found in a tributary of the River Torridge in Devon. It had a stomach full fo sweetcorn so was probably someone's pet. Hope it wasn't a pregnant female when it was released!

[ron1863]

I was listening to that story on the car radio the other day, according to an expert it was definitely a pet as they don't normally grow that large in the wild.

I think that the expert has a degree in "Stating the blee.... obvious" or that fish had a marathon swim from Brazil.

[Monkey Orchid]

I've heard of people flushing dead goldfish down the loo, but not 14-inch piranhas!

These fish do have a scary reputation, but a lot of it is hype. I had to do research about them when I worked at a rainforest centre, and in the wild they largely feed on carrion and detritus which falls into rivers - in fact they play an important role in helping to maintain water quality. They're only considered dangerous if a large number become trapped in a small pool (e.g. when rivers dry up in the dry season) and food is in short supply; then if an injured animal was unlucky enough to blunder into the pool they would certainly polish it off.

When I was in Bolivia about 10 years ago I was wading in a stream in the Amazonian rainforest (trying to cool down), with a number of other people. The Bolivian lady who cooked for us was fishing in the same stream, catching our supper: when I asked her what fish she was after, she replied "Piranha" and showed me some she'd already caught! I did leave the water fairly soon afterwards, but neither I nor anyone else suffered so much as a nibble. In fact, rather than me being eaten by piranha, I actually ate them for supper... And quite nice they tasted, too.

[tom00_uk]

not a piranha but a close relation, its going to be a pacu, possibly a red pacu

hence the corn in its gut

[Doggle Avaddit]

Originally Posted by Monkey Orchid

I've heard of people flushing dead goldfish down the loo, but not 14-inch piranhas!

These fish do have a scary reputation, but a lot of it is hype. I had to do research about them when I worked at a rainforest centre, and in the wild they largely feed on carrion and detritus which falls into rivers - in fact they play an important role in helping to maintain water quality. They're only considered dangerous if a large number become trapped in a small pool (e.g. when rivers dry up in the dry season) and food is in short supply; then if an injured animal was unlucky enough to blunder into the pool they would certainly polish it off.

When I was in Bolivia about 10 years ago I was wading in a stream in the Amazonian rainforest (trying to cool down), with a number of other people. The Bolivian lady who cooked for us was fishing in the same stream, catching our supper: when I asked her what fish she was after, she replied "Piranha" and showed me some she'd already caught! I did leave the water fairly soon afterwards, but neither I nor anyone else suffered so much as a nibble. In fact, rather than me being eaten by piranha, I actually ate them for supper... And quite nice they tasted, too.

I went fishing for Piranha in Bolivia, but didn't catch any. Others did though and they were about hand sized with lots of tiny sharp teeth! I think their reputation may be worse than their bite though, as you say.

Later that day whilst I was swimming, my toe was playfully nibbled by a pink River Dolphin. Which was nice.





edit: could have been Peru. not Bolivia, I was travelling.