Fish With Human Like Teeth Reeled In

(Photo: Creative Commons)

              An Arizona fisherman had an unexpected catch of the day this month when he caught a fish with human-like teeth.

Jeff Evans, who was fishing on the north side of Tucson's Silverbell Lake on Jan. 12, told the Arizona Daily Star that the fish even tried to bite him a few times.

The creature was later identified as a Pacu fish, native to South America and a relative of the Piranha, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department in Tucson.

Game and Fish doesn't stock waterways with Pacu fish, according to spokesman Mark Hart. The ones that show up in community waters start out as pets that people dump into lakes once they get too big to manage, he said.

Hart said people dumping into Tucson waters is an ongoing problem.

"What they don't realize is that invasive species crowd out native species," he said. "It's a bad practice, and people don't want to destroy something that's been a pet. But it's not helpful and can lead to some confusion."

Kevin Airola, who works at the Ocean Floor aquarium and tropical-fish store in Phoenix, said they typically have no more than five Pacu fish in stock at any given time.

The allure of the Pacu fish is that it looks so similar to a piranha, Airola said, but its adult size can make it a less-than-ideal pet: The Pacu can grow up to 2 feet long.

Story according to Arizona Daily Star