N.C. fisherman catches a piranha!

Boy, that man was lucky. You don't think of running into animals that are not supposed to be in your area. People are irresponsible when picking pets sometimes and they don't know what to do with them, so they set them free. They don't think of the consequences that it could cause.

I agree with some people here saying that a pet owner might dump it to the river. Nobody would know who owns it, so the owner can just throw it away whenever he wants to. It's dangerous because summer time people go out fishing and swimming a lot, I really hope nothing happens to them

Wow can you imagine catching this thing? It is a wonder it didn't break the line with its teeth. I would have it mounted too. Thanks for sharing this I thought it was interesting. I think though if people purchase exotic fish etc, that they should be responsible for their actions. I think it is terrible for someone to dump something that is not from this area in a lake or river. Thanks again and have a great day.

i believe it.i live in new england and one year some joker put them in our reservoir.. obviously,whoever did it didn't realize they're tropical fish.as soon as winter came along,it killed them.

MY cousines has a piranha when I was growing up I do not know what they did with it when they got rid of it. I have heard of this before, people get these animals that are not native to their areas and when they find they cannot keep them they let them go. Some animals have taken over areas when they have been let go in an area where there is no natural preditor of them. There has been cases of total devistation from these animals. People need to think before they get pets that are suppose to be wild animals.

Personally I believe that all wild animals whether it is fish, lions, tigers, bears, etc. should be left in their own environments. I do not believe they are meant to be for pets. These can be dangerous creatures. This is why so many people get hurt or killed trying to keep something that is not meant to be kept!

Whoa, I guess all the fisher men out there got to watch out for this one. That sounds very lethal to me.

Last year two kids caught a piranha in our local park that has a fishing lake. At least, I think that is what they decided. First they said it was a piranha, then they said, no it is a pacu ( cousin to a piranha) then back to saying it was a piranha. All officials reached the same conclusion, it had been dumped, whatever it was. There was a discussion on myLot yesterday about the fact that these are actually cowardly fish who school in order to protect themselves. Seems to be the fish of the day.

There was an article in the U.K. Daily Mail last week about Piranhas and according to that they are actually friendly harmless creatures - Most of the Time, except when they are hungry, and one person enjoyed going swimming with them without being harmed. Not something I would want to do.

That happens a lot. People get aquarium fish that get too big and to hard to manage, so they dump them. In some cases this has lead to a wide spread of the populaiton and trouble to the ecosystem. Like the lionfish in the southern states. Yes, that man could have gotten hurt, lucky he didn't.

well that may be true because i dont think they could come up this far north...they dont like the cold water. i am currently reading a missionary story about a guy in ecuador and he mentions piranas and how they could bite through a man's finger very easily...

I've seen on T V Documentry programs that a group of Piranhas can eat a horse or any mammal in a few minutes. Wonder is the Piranha eatable like any other sea or fresh water fish. Are there any other uses of this fish

I'm surprised that these fish can survive in our waters. I'd hate to get bit by one of those things. I freak if anything even bumps into me when I'm swimming. Piranhas are such ugly looking fish.

He must be lucky, those are some powerful and scary species, he could have so easily lost a finger and such.

All sorts of critters are found all over the country at this time of year. People find that the pets that they have tried to keep are more than they can handle and so they release them into the wild. Not caring like in this case someone could get hurt and that they environement could not allow the fish to live. Always interesting to hear these stories. Sent you info in PM to give you a link to information about ethanol!

That is just too scary. Ppl need to realize when they want to give up their pets..be it fish, reptile, amphibian, bird.. they need to turn it over to the wildlife ppl, not set it free to scare the pants off everyone. I read some time ago about an alligator found in the sewers of New York, I think. It was HUGE!! from living off the rats and such. They believed someone flushed it down the toliet when it was a baby. Makes ya wonder if there are any other pirranhas living where the one was caught.

It takes one rotten apple to spoil the whole bunch. People who release non native fish into the wild are very irresponsible to say the least. They also make it very hard for the people, who will care for the exotic species, to obtain one. Maybe no one will be able to have a pet piranha because of this jack @ss. Some people don't deserve to live. Some may disagree but you have that right. But if a school of them were to form and your child was attacked by a school of piranha you might think the guy shouldn't have been born as well.

That poor guy but I thought piranha's were illegal to own?

That also happened here in Minnesota last weekend. A small boy caught one. They interviewed a pet store owner who said that often time when people get tired of their fish or are moving and don't know what to do with them the dump them in the lake. Pretty scary!

ahahah...he is pollo