What Fish Is This?

[CatLover]

I tried posting this in a different section, but I couldn't get the pic to work, so I had to come here. The mods can move it if they like.
I just found this and there are some people debating about it. Apparently it was caught by someone in Texas who swears it has "real human teeth attached." That's rubbish, but on a more serious note, what fish could this be? Any ideas?

 

[saboy]

It looks maybe similiar to a pacu maybe, but i would not know , do they even from from texas ?

 

[CatLover]

I thought it looked like a pacu or piranha too, but they aren't naturally in Texas. That doesn't mean that someone couldn't have bought one from a pet store and put it in a river. People do dumb stuff like that all the time.

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

Its a pacu.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

That doesn't mean that someone couldn't have bought one from a pet store and put it in a river. People do dumb stuff like that all the time.

yup that's most likely, specially with something like a pacu...... bet you a million dollars someone bought a lovely little 1 inch fish that looked like a piranah and surprise suprise it started getting waaaaaaay to big for they're 20g tank so they just dumped it

 

[Neal]

Is that illegal or not? Well, to buy like 3 of a type of fish, and then introduce it to a river/lake that's safe for the fish? I suppose it would help the fish from becoming extinct and it also could mean they can be caught somewhere else. I'm not saying i'm going to do it, but people might do it just for the above reasons.

Neal

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

It is illegal. If you are going to do it with an endangered species, you probably need a permit or something. If it would help that species and the environment, then i guess they would let you.

 

[dirtydogg]

the local radio station was talking about it today in D.C. she said it looked like a snakehead on the radio, but the pictures are nothing of the sort. for sure some kind of pacu.

 

[AMS]

It is not a piranha, I can tell just by looking at the teeth. I am almost 100% certain it is a pacu. Pacu's are not naturally occuring to the US or even North America, they live in South America. Some person probably bought 8 of them at Wal-Mart for their ten gallon tank and soon learned that they get HUGE, and then dumped it in a local pond. That is how the lifes of most pacus and piranhas end up. IMHO piranhas and pacu's should be illegal in all states in the US. (This law won't apply to me though ). Piranhas are currently illegal in most US states, but Pacus are not illegal anywhere. Piranhas are very easily obtainable even in illegla US states thanks to these "strict laws". As much as I love my own piranhas, they really should not be in the hands of most aquarists.

 

[Synirr]

she said it looked like a snakehead on the radio...

HAHAHA, now THAT'S even harder to believe than it having human teeth!!

I saw that photo on TV today and wondered why they were showing a pacu... this is even dumber than the time they reported on the freshly dead carcass of a "mysterious beast", saying it had "kangaroo legs". It was just a mangy dog or coyote with all its hair gone. Sheesh, there are so many country folk in my area they ought to have known that, my dad saw a live one almost identical to the one in the photos while he was on a hunting trip.

Anyway, do a Google image search for pacu and you will find many more pictures of fish with human teeth

 

[discus dreamer]

Is that illegal or not? Well, to buy like 3 of a type of fish, and then introduce it to a river/lake that's safe for the fish? I suppose it would help the fish from becoming extinct and it also could mean they can be caught somewhere else. I'm not saying i'm going to do it, but people might do it just for the above reasons.

Neal

Bad idea I am afraid
the second leading cause of the loss of biodiversity is introduced species (animals and plants). Ecologists suggest a rough model that 1 in 10 introduced species will survive in the new environment and 1 in 10 of those that do become invasive, that is, they use up the space of the local indigenous species thus leading to loss of biodiversity. So best to keep things where they are from unless they are tightly controlled as in a home aquarium. Breeding in controlled environments and the reintroduction to a restored original habitat for that species is the way to go with endangered species. This mean the we have to be super careful about not buying endangered species captured from their natural home and not releasing anything into the wider open environment even plants, for example by letting viable bits of root or stem into the water system, otherwise all that amazing variety that we enjoy will be threatened even more than it is already.
sorry for the lecture, but this stuff is kinda important
DD

 

[saboy]

Wow I was right ! It is a Pacu ! YAY