Testicle-Eating Fish, Caught In Passaic, New Jersey

Although it's native to the Amazon, a testicle-eating fish species called "Pacu" has been turning up in places including Denmark, France and Illinois.

Now, a large Pacu has been found in northern New Jersey, just more than 10 miles outside New York City.

Just thought I would share this for the folks over the pound incase anyone was thinking of a new year swim. The excotic fish the Pacu normally eats nuts and such. But the fish has been known to be mistaken in the past and bite off testicles.

Two men in New Guinea reportedly died from blood loss after a Pacu chomped on theirs.

I do not think the fish is much risk at the moment. But given time if their populations grow things might get messy in which case I think I would rather take my chances with piranhas.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

purplemer
The excotic fish the Pacu normally eats nuts and such. But the fish has been known to be mistaken in the past and bite off testicles.

How are those 2 any different?

reply to post by purplemer


The revenge of the oceans has begun.

Full disclosure: When I saw the film "The Perfect Storm", and the boats in danger were loaded with beautiful but dead fish, I came down on the side of the storm.

Ouch! Should make you think twice before entering the water.

I prefer pools. No wild things in the choline. If they have enough of it, even your skin dies and falls off.

I wouldn't swim in an area that had nesting bass without a bathing suits. I have had bass try to bite my finger. I saw a small northern pike try to eat the painted toes of a girl I was with. The nail polish attracted it. It didn't go after my toes, only hers.

The Pacu is a tropical fish from South America. as soon as the temp of the water hits 60 degrees they die.People turn pet fish of this species loose in the great lakes every year.In the summer there are a couple of reports of fishermen catching one.as soon as winter comes they die.

They are related to the piranha,but are totally vegitarian.They are unlikely to become established anywhere the water temp drops to 60.

Let's hope they're not able to survive the winter.
Reminds me of a good news/bad news joke:

Dept of Fish & Game Inspector: Well, about those fish that turned up, we have good news & bad news."
Crowd: "Give us the good news first!"
Inspector: "They're not Piranha".
Crowd: "That's great! Uh, what's the bad news?"
Inspector, reflexively crossing his legs: "You're not gonna believe this..."

So...

Are all these victims skinny dipping or what? Or do the fish have x-ray vision?

ok....OP.....throw a softball (so to speak) up in the air like this topic, and the jokes will come fast and be numerous...gives new meaning to those guys that go hand-fishing.

Those Pacu are very common pet fish kept in aquariums. People set the loose in lakes and such here, as well.

In my younger years I had 6 pacu in a 50 gal. The fish guy said they were the closest thing to the piranha we could have in MA. That's all I got.

Dammit....some things are better left unread.....

Testicle-Eating Fish

For a guy like me that likes to swim wherever, whenever....

Where is a Panic emoticon when I need one ?!?!?!?

meh... If I was to have a testicle bitten off, I'm sure I'd pass out from the pain and peacefully drown...

Not that its much better. And since their teeth look human, you'd even know how it would feel if it was a human biting... lol

I hurt just thinking about it... ow.

EDIT: It's also probably nature's way to tell men not to adopt the g-strings fashion for himself... hehe

reply to post by purplemer

The excotic fish the Pacu normally eats nuts and such. But the fish has been known to be mistaken in the past and bite off testicles.

Some may argue there are women more dangerous than these fish species.

reply to post by purplemer


Well all I can say is... I am very much glad I am a female...!

Pacu are very common in the aquarium pet trade, and they are the very last thing that should be sold. Almost no one has the budget or tank size to keep an adult responsibly. It is also a well-entrenched myth that fish only grow to their tank size, but it gets abused to sell more fish every year.

This fish was likely a survivor whose owner was overwhelmed and simply let it go. Most pet shops won't take these in trade because they are very hard to sell once they get above a certain size. Most zoos and aquariums have more than enough of them, so you are unlikely to find a home for yours there.

Basically, they're kind of like the boa constrictors of the fish world.

I guess you could say that fortunately or unfortunately most people who try to keep fish are so inept at it that most Pacu never reach this fate. They simply die in the home aquarium.

Maybe that fish was a squirrel in a past life?

All I know is sharks WERE my biggest fear, but not anymore. huh uh! You just don't bite a mans testy off. That's some scary stuff right there. I will stay away from the waters in NJ. Not that I would go near the water in NJ to begin with. lol

lonegurkha
The Pacu is a tropical fish from South America. as soon as the temp of the water hits 60 degrees they die.People turn pet fish of this species loose in the great lakes every year.In the summer there are a couple of reports of fishermen catching one.as soon as winter comes they die.

They are related to the piranha,but are totally vegitarian.They are unlikely to become established anywhere the water temp drops to 60.

edit on 1/1/2014 by lonegurkha because: (no reason given)

I have heard that in some cases pacu will resort to carnivorous behavior, especially when displaced from their normal habitat, which I believe was originally the Amazon and they were transplanted to New Guinea on purpose as river stock... I think.

Anyhow, you seem to know a lot about pacu, were they originally carnivores which became vegetarian, or vice versa? And is it true they alternate between the two modes depending on where they are transplanted to?

gravitationalethics

lonegurkha
The Pacu is a tropical fish from South America. as soon as the temp of the water hits 60 degrees they die.People turn pet fish of this species loose in the great lakes every year.In the summer there are a couple of reports of fishermen catching one.as soon as winter comes they die.

They are related to the piranha,but are totally vegitarian.They are unlikely to become established anywhere the water temp drops to 60.

edit on 1/1/2014 by lonegurkha because: (no reason given)

I have heard that in some cases pacu will resort to carnivorous behavior, especially when displaced from their normal habitat, which I believe was originally the Amazon and they were transplanted to New Guinea on purpose as river stock... I think.

Anyhow, you seem to know a lot about pacu, were they originally carnivores which became vegetarian, or vice versa? And is it true they alternate between the two modes depending on where they are transplanted to?

I know about Pacu because I have bred tropical fish for 50 years.They are originally from the Amazon Basin,where they feed mostly on nuts, hense the heavy teeth for crushing their food.They are not really designed for feeding on meat, but most animals will eat what they can get if they're starving.I would find it rather unusual for them to become carnivorous as they, like most vegetarian fish, have a very long gut for digesting what they eat.This gut would not be suited to the digestion of a meat diet and the consumption of any large amount of meat would probably kill them.They are just not designed for eating it.There are many fish species like this. Any way I would find it hard to believe that they became carnivorous anywhere.

I had not heard that they had been transplanted to New Guinea.I would think that like most transplanted species, this will work out badly.

They are related to piranha, like chimps are related to humans.The species diverged a long time ago.