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The Oklahoma Division of Wildlife Conservation experiences {that a} younger angler caught an uncommon fish from a neighborhood pond over the weekend. The quick, bream-shaped fish had human-like enamel and appeared rather a lot like its shut cousin, the purple piranha. Charlie Clinton’s catch turned out to be a red-bellied pacuwhich is one other South American species that’s often pulled from U.S. waterways.
Officers consider somebody launched the pacu into the pond. The toothy invaders are a preferred aquarium species and as soon as they outgrow their tanks, they’re usually dumped illegally into native waterways, the place they’ll simply take maintain and negatively impression native fish populations. They’ve been caught from a number of completely different fisheries in Oklahoma earlier than. As a result of they’re “an unique, invasive species that may trigger harm to native ecosystems,” the ODWC asks anglers to kill any pacu they catch.
Pricey, whoever launched a whole Pacu (a South American fish intently associated to Piranha) right into a NEIGHBORHOOD pond;
how dare you. pic.twitter.com/WwQqJ9REAz
— Oklahoma Division of Wildlife Conservation (@OKWildlifeDept) July 18, 2023
“Pricey, whoever launched a whole Pacu (a South American fish intently associated to Piranha) right into a NEIGHBORHOOD pond;” ODWC wrote in a Twitter put up Tuesday, “how dare you.”
Though they give the impression of being much like their carnivorous cousins, pacu are literally omnivores that feed on quite a lot of bugs, nuts, and vegetation. This implies they’re extra of a menace to native fish populations than people.
Their enamel ought to nonetheless be revered, although. Simply ask Sandra Whaley, whose 11-year-old granddaughter caught a one-pound pacu from Oklahoma’s Fort Cobb Lake in 2018. Whereas unhooking the fish, it bit Whaley’s hand (fortunately the chunk was minor.)
Learn Subsequent: Florida Has Turn into the Funds-Pleasant Amazon for Anglers
These hearty fish from the Amazon could be present in a number of different U.S. states, together with South Carolina and particularly Florida—the place they thrive within the heat water canals and lakes together with different unique species like peacock bass. Pacu have even been caught as far north as Michigan, New Jersey, and New York. Most of those catches have been panfish-sized, however pacu can develop a lot bigger, reaching as much as 90 kilos and over three toes in size, in accordance with ODWC.
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