Penis eating fish
PENECTOMY
A news article about a fish that eats penises
` Genital-biting fish terrorise village `

06jul01

TWO Papua New Guinea fishermen have bled to death after piranha-like river
fish bit off their penises.

The fish, which zero in on urine, have struck terror among villagers along the
Sepik River, in north-western PNG.

Authorities believe the killer fish is an introduced member of the South
American pacu family and 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 and the PNG
National Fisheries Authority.

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 introduced to the Sepik
River in 1994 and to the Ramu River at Madang in 1997 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, while the pacu introduced
by the FAO and NFA grew to 20kg and had no teeth.

Mr 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," he said.

Mr Middleton said this was well documented in the Amazon, where piranhas
attack in response to urine or blood.

He said people along the Ramu River were harvesting the introduced pacu
without any reports of attacks on humans.

"I do not believe . . . the FAO and the NFA would be stupid enough to
introduce such a hazardous species, nor any relative of the piranha," Mr
Middleton said.

  

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