A fish with human-like teeth and a reported tendency to chew on testicles has been discovered in a lake in Michigan.
A number of fishermen have caught the pacu fish, which is a close relative of the piranha and can grow up to 3ft in size.
According to Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources, the pacu fish is being released into the wild by members of the public who by them as pets and find they grow too large for their aquariums.
‘Pets released from confined, artificial environments are poorly equipped to fend off predators and may be unable to successfully forage for food or find shelter,’ said Nick Popoff, manager of the DNR’s Aquatic Species and Regulatory Affairs Unit.
‘Those that do succeed in the wild can spread exotic diseases to native animals. In the worst-case scenario, released animals can thrive and reproduce, upsetting natural ecosystems to the degree that these former pets become invasive species.’
Woman amazes the internet by catching huge fish with her bare hands In 2013, Professor Peter Rask Moller of Copenhagen’s Museum of Natural History, said the pacu may mistake human testicles for its preferred food of nuts.
He later told CNN: ‘We did say that we recommend men to keep their swimsuits tied up until we know if there are more pacus out there in our waters. Of course, this is half a joke since it is very unlikely that you would actually meet one here and that it would bite you. It’s up to people themselves how careful they want to be.
‘I’ll keep my shorts on, though.’
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