Catfish, like any predator, do not disdain carrion. There are many cases in history when especially large individuals attacked people. The photo shows a huge catfish caught in the Russian river Akhtuba.
In Shimanovsk (Amur Region) in the Bolshaya Pera River, a giant mutant catfish is born. In July, a tailed man-eater gnawed at a man's corpse. This absolutely wild story was told by a resident of the regional center Zhanna Voropaeva. The local newspaper (Amurskaya Pravda) decided to check this rumor
“At the end of July, I came to visit my parents in Shimanovsk,” Zhanna Evgenievna says in her letter. - I wanted to swim in the river. However, on all the beaches of the city were placed signs: "Swimming is prohibited." When I asked why the access to the river was blocked, my sister replied that in mid-July, local militiamen, together with the Ministry of Emergency Situations, fished out the corpse of a man from Pera. The body of the unfortunate was seriously injured, and his legs were gnawed almost to the knees. The divers, having examined the bottom, found a huge catfish. The appearance of the river miracle-yuda was significantly changed: he looked at the world with just one eye, his tail and fins were pretty deformed. As local residents say, the mutant was killed and sent for examination to Khabarovsk. It is not known whether the unfortunate man actually drowned or was attacked by a giant heavyweight catfish. Can,can you get to the bottom of the truth?"
Was there a catfish?
The very fact of the "fish attack" in the police department in the city of Shimanovsk and Shimanovskiy district is not confirmed. In the place that the woman describes in her letter, the drowned man was indeed found. But it is not "Uncle Catfish" who is to blame for his death, but alcohol.
- In July, a young man really drowned in the area of the Krestyansky settlement, - said the head of the criminal police of the city of Shimanovsk, Dmitry Vorobyov. “But when our employees, together with specialists from the Ministry of Emergencies, raised the body to the shore, it was absolutely safe and sound and without visible signs of violent death.
The man was dressed with money, a cell phone and house keys in his pockets. He was in the water for a little over a day. As the investigation found out, the man returned home after drinking heavily. Passing over the bridge, he stumbled and fell into the water. Shortly before that, he called his wife and said that he was lost. After a while, a woman drowned in Pere. She, too, was intoxicated.
All in all, four people died in the reservoirs of Szymanovsk during the summer. And in no case were there any hints of a "fish lunch".
A predator, but not a killer
“Our reservoirs are inhabited by the Amur catfish and Soldatov’s catfish,” explains Vladimir Tolmachev, head of the department for state control of supervision and fish protection in the Amur Region. - Amursky does not reach large sizes. The maximum length is one meter, weight is 8 kilograms. Soldatov's catfish is much larger: it weighs 30-40 kilograms and is 1.5 meters long. Catfish live up to thirty years, and their number in the Amur region is insignificant. Catfish is a predator. In the summer, he eats small fish, but also does not disdain carrion. It is constantly in ambush, does not attack first, keeps mainly at the bottom. In winter hibernates. Why is it precisely soma that attacks on humans are attributed to? In the European part of Russia, this fish grows to gigantic proportions. According to ichthyologists, individuals living on the Volga and Don rivers can weigh up to 300 kilograms and be up to 5 meters long.
According to Vladimir Mikhailovich, any fish can mutate. A similar process occurs due to active pollution of the reservoir. The Bolshaya Pera River, 120 kilometers long, is seriously polluted. The settlements Shimanovsk, Uglegorsk, Buzuli dump all their waste here. But even despite such an unfavorable fact, a huge mutant will not be able to appear here, experts are sure. Bolshaya Pera is shallow. To grow to gigantic proportions, the catfish must descend into a deeper body of water and winter there. However, Zeya is not so polluted that this species could change so much.
Amur scientists do not know anything that Shimanovsky "geek" was allegedly sent to Khabarovsk for study. Whether the huge man-eater actually lives in the Amur reservoirs is still a mystery. Nevertheless, a month ago, a young woman was bitten while swimming in the Unzha River near Kostroma. According to the NTV channel, at first something stirred under the water, then a sharp pain pierced the victim.
A huge catfish gripped the woman's leg with its teeth and did not let go until it received a decisive rebuff. Vacationers immediately arrived at the scene, but the slippery villain had already disappeared without leaving a trace. But doctors counted the lady more than 20 minor wounds. All injuries are from fish teeth.