Experts fear that the killer fish managed to breed in a lake popular with local residents
A piranha of sizes not seen in nature was caught in the Salt Lake. The predatory fish weighing almost three kilograms was sent for urgent examination. An unusual catch fell on the bait of the railwayman Stanislav Chekunov, who came to the lake to go fishing with his sons.
But instead of the usual perch from the water, the fisherman pulled out an amazing fish.
“By the sharp teeth, I immediately realized that it was a piranha,” says the fisherman. - I had little piranhas in my aquarium, but this one was just huge, weighing 2.4 kilograms! In nature, they usually weigh no more than a kilogram; such a giant can only be grown in captivity.
The fisherman brought the piranha home, seriously scaring his wife with a toothy trophy.
- I was already shaking, she looked menacing! My husband also joked: let's cook it, check if it is edible. I refused, I will never touch this monster! - says the fisherman's wife Svetlana.
The fish was put in the refrigerator, and a photo of it was sent to specialists. Employees of the Azov Research Institute of Fisheries could not believe their eyes when they saw photographs of piranhas, and urgently demanded fish for examination.
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- We have carried out an inspection, it is really gigantic, as if it was raised in captivity! - says the employee of the research institute Yuri Rekov. - Piranhas do not live with other fish, they eat them, like all living things. Judging by the size and weight, the fish is about 2 - 3 years old. Most likely, someone living nearby, out of hooliganism, released her from the aquarium into the lake.
How many piranha lived in the lake is still unknown.
- But it is absolutely certain that she survived the winter in the pond! How she succeeded, we cannot yet explain, for us the appearance of a piranha is an amazing phenomenon. We are faced with this for the first time! - continue the representatives of the institute.
Now the main task of specialists is to establish whether the caught piranha has spawned.
- If they released one piranha, it's not so bad, but if at least two, then they could already give offspring. Piranhas have one feature - they are able to change sex. If there are two piranhas of the same sex in a reservoir, one of them will change sex, and they will breed,”the staff of the institute say.
Whether the killer fish has produced offspring will become known a few weeks after the end of the study.
“If the fears are confirmed, the Salt Lake will become dangerous for people,” says Stanislav Chekunov. - It's even scary to imagine what piranhas can do in a reservoir where hundreds of people rest!