Watch those fingers!
Posted on 06/20/2006 8:05:30 PM PDT by Marius3188
DOLLAR BAY — For the past five years, Jim Tourtillott has owned and operated the Drive Thru Bait shop in Dollar Bay. During that time, anglers have often brought him odd and unusual aquatic species for inspection and identification.
“People are always bringing me weird fish and weird looking bait critters,” he said.
During the years, Tourtillott has seen some pretty odd looking things like lamprey and mud puppies, but none of that prepared him for what was brought in for his inspection Saturday morning.
Mark Waisanen of Dollar Bay was fishing in a boat and Darren Burcar was driving near what is known as Sandy Bottom, when Waisanen caught something he couldn’t identify.
“He brought it to me because he didn’t know what it was. I thought it might be a piranha and I looked it up and it sure looks like a piranha,” he said
While mud puppies and lampreys are stranger looking than the South American piranha, this was certainly a first for Tourtillott.
“A piranha is certainly something out of the ordinary, I’d say.”
Tourtillott plans on giving the fish, which he has kept alive at his bait shop, to the DNR.
“Maybe they can do some experiments to see if its been living here, or if it’s a dumped-in fish or if its survived the winter. Who knows?”
While the DNR has yet to see the exotic fish, a spokesperson from District Headquarters in Baraga is fairly sure the fish is a recent addition to the Keweenaw Waterway.
“It’s highly unlikely it survived the winter. It was most likely a pet that someone dumped into the water, the spokesperson said.
Normally Tourtillott would agree, but there is something about the fish that intrigues him.
“What’s different about this fish is that it looks like the other fish that get caught out here. Its dark, like the crappie, northern and even the walleye, taken from the waters here. They’re all darker than normal,” he said.
Tourtillott attributes the dark coloring among the fish to slag and other metals that have been dumped in the area throughout the years.
While it is an interesting theory, Ron Kinnunen, Michigan State University Sea Grant Fisheries Extension specialist from Marquette, tends to believe the fish was an unwanted pet.
“It’s unusual but not unheard of to find piranha and other exotic fish and animals in the Great Lakes,” Kinnunen said.
But because of the cold water, piranha and other tropical fish don’t survive in the Midwest, with some exceptions.
“There are places in Wisconsin near power plants where piranha have survived because of the warm water. But up here it’s too cold for them to last.”
Because of the time of year, Kinnunen thinks the fish may have been released by a college student who was heading home for summer break.
“I remember when I was a student at Michigan Tech, guys would dump their aquariums into the canal rather than take the fish home for the summer.”
While the practice may seem like a harmless solution to unwanted pets, Kinnunen said it is a serious problem. A problem that has sparked a national campaign.
“Habitattitude is a program that Sea Grant started in Minnesota, that has become nationwide, because of the scope of this problem,” he said.
According to the Web site habitattitude.net, the expansion of harmful plants, fish and other animals is a concern that needs to be addressed.
If exotic species become established, they can cause environmental problems, and eventually make waters unusable for recreation.
Kinnunen sites invasive species like zebra mussels and the Eurasian ruffe that have been introduced in the Great Lakes, most likely through ships ballast. Because of disease and other biological and environmental concerns, Kinnunen said there is an effort to stop the release pet fish into local waters.
Habitattitude, which has partnered with the pet industry, advises owners of unwanted fish to bring them to a local pet store for adoption.
Superior Aquatics and Pets in Painesdale will adopt exotic and tropical fish.
“They really shouldn’t be released in local waters. There’s diseases and other problems,” said store owner Tom Banse. “We don’t buy pets from people, but we will adopt them so they are not dumped into local waters.”
If the fish in Tourtillott’s possession is, indeed, a Dollar Bay piranha, does that mean swimmers at the popular Sandy Bottom Park need to be concerned?
Kinnunen doesn’t think so.
“This is a rare instance and more than likely a single fish. Any attacks you hear of are by schools of piranha,” Kinnunen said.
According to the Web site AquaticCommunity.com, most piranha are vegetarian and the image of massive schools of deadly fish devouring livestock are in extremely rare, dry conditions. Normally, they travel alone and eat smaller fish.
So it seems there is not a lot to worry about concerning a piranha in Dollar Bay, assuming, of course, it’s a piranha at all.
Although he has not seen the fish, Banse said there’s a good possibility it may not be a piranha but red bellied pacu.
“I’d have to see it, but judging from the size, I bet it’s a pacu,” Banse said.
“I’ve got both of them, and other than the size it’s hard to tell them apart.”
Regardless of the breed, Banse still cautions about releasing any exotic fish into local waters.
Whether the fish that Waisanen caught turns out to be a piranha or its kissing cousin, the pacu, the thought of a such a creature lurking beneath the waters of a popular swimming hole might have a “Jaws-like” effect on swimmers at Sandy Bottom, at least for a little.
“Probably for a week or so,” Tourtillott said.
“Until it gets hot enough, then people will brave the waters again.”
Mark Wilcox can be reached at mwilcox@mininggazette.com
Watch those fingers!
Seems like a few have been caught near Muskegon over the years. There was some concern that they were able to survive around the warm water released from a power plant there. A few have been caught in inland lakes down this way over the years.
Toothy little bugger.
Well, having a pet piranha is certainly one way to keep your cat from messing with your aquarium. :=)
About ten years ago, there were about eight or nine piranha caught in Freeman Lake, here in E-Town, Kentucky. They never did figure out where they came from, but it sure caused a lot of excitement for a few months. Fortunately, that winter was really nasty and the water temperature dropped too low for them to have survived.
I don't think it is.
Howdy, Torie:
The fish looks more like a Pacu. They are sold to people in the U.S. as piranha, but they are not the real deal. Believe me, I have seen the real thing.
It appears that owners in the U.S. worry about keeping them when they get bigger, and toss them out. They are native to South America, and do not live long up north.
Regards,
Ernesto
ping
It did look a bit fat for the P fish, but I am no expert.
People generally shouldn't abandon their pets, and if they do, they should bring them to some shelter.
Piranha like to begin with a salad course, then move to a main course of beef.
That looks more like a Pacu than a Pirrahna....
Having not seen any pictures of the actual fish in question, I will withold my final judgment - but I am strongly suspect this is also a pacu.
The Pacu looks a lot like a Pirrahna, has some pretty impressive teeth (especially for what is primarily a vegitarian), and has similar, but not QUITE as demanding temperature requirements.
Pirrahna usually cannot survive in water below 60 degrees,a nd get pretty danged sick below 65. Are their any bodies of water in Michigan that stay above that temperature year-round? Even temps dipping below 60 can cause them to get quite sick and weak. Water temps of 55 mean certain death to these fish.
pacu can take SLIGHTLY cooler waters for short time periods. But as Pirrahna are illegal in many states, and Pacu are a fairly popular (and legal) aquarium fish.... they get far too big for the average aquarium - thus making them a common release-to-the-wild fish.
But I could be wrong...
the picture of the fish in the mans hand definately looks like a pacu. pacu are GIANT relatives of the pirahna. they have all the teeth but are for the most part vegitarian by choice, they LOVE grapes and sliced up bananas. red pirahna stay smallish, maybe a foot long..red pacus get large but the black pacu can make almost four feet long and a foot thick, they are like 60-70 pound bluegills! supposedly a great eating fish as well. Interesting story , they caught a pacu in the Des Moines river in the middle of the winter one year..and the river usually freezes over...I actually saw the fish at a bait shop ..the owner swears its a pirahna... but its a pacu..
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,2273932%5E2,00.html (no longer available on server)
Two dead in piranha penis frenzy
From AAP
TWO Papua New Guinea fishermen have bled to death after having their penises bitten off by pirahna-like river fish.
The fish, which zero in on urine streams in the water, have struck terror among villagers along the Sepik River, in northwestern PNG.
Authorities believe the killer fish is an introduced member of the South American pacu family and a relative of the piranha.
In both of last month's fatalities, the fish demonstrated a trait of the piranha by following a trail of urine in the water, swimming to its source and then biting it off with razor-sharp teeth.
Some believe the killer may be a food-source fish introduced from Brazil in 1994 by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the PNG National Fisheries Authority (NFO).
However marine biologist and aquaculturist Ian Middleton said he believed they were a different species, introduced from across the PNG-Indonesia border.
He denied the fish were the descendants of the pacu species introduced to the Sepik River in 1994 and the Ramu River at Madang in 1997 by the FAO and the NFA as a protein substitute.
"The killer fish have the most human-like teeth on the bottom jaw I have ever seen and quite possibly feed on insects," he said.
Middleton said the FAO/NFA-introduced pacu grew to 20 kilos and had no teeth.
Pacu are mainly vegetarian but will adapt to eat almost anything.
Middleton said he believed the killer fish had started biting humans because of a lack of naturally occurring food.
"The reason for biting people on their genitals I believe is a result of the fish detecting a chemical change in the water, swimming up the urine trail and biting the genitals."
Middleton said this behaviour was well-documented in the Amazon, where other species of the piranha family attack in response to urine or blood.
He said people along the Ramu River were now harvesting the introduced pacu and there had been no reports of attacks on humans.
"I do not believe that in over five years of research and careful consideration that the FAO and the NFA would be stupid enough to introduce such a hazardous species, nor any relative of the piranha," Middleton said.
However the Director of the PNG Office of Environment and Conservation, Dr Wari Iamo, yesterday expressed "grave concern and dissatisfaction" at the way some government agencies and donor organisations had gone about importing exotic plant and animal species.
"A classic example is the salvinia molesta (a floating water weed) control program in the Sepik during the 1980s which cost millions of kina (dollars) because someone accidentally introduced the weed into the river system," he said.
"In the last two decades various agencies and individuals have introduced over 30 species of exotic fishes into the country."
AAP
Here is one thread where we discussed it at the time...Genital-biting fish terrorise village
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