no joke guys, this is for real.

[davetclown]

no joke guys, this is for real.

saturday an angler pulled up a paku off the board walk of the rouge river saturday.

it measured to a near 18 inches.

a paku (check spelling) is the cousin of the purana from the same regeon.

These fish have found a way to survive year round in michigans cold ice flowing waters. It would apear that there is a number of plants on michigan shores along with canida and wisconson shores that use water for cooling wich when returned back to the sorce it tempretur is highly elivated to tropical standards. thus providing a habitat for tropical fish....

news reporters are placing the blaim on fish shops for releasing them, others are blaiming pet owners for just turning thier dogs loose in the wild. This reminds me of when I was a kid and that was how a number of poeple would discard an unwanted pet. take them out in to the country side turn them loose and make them some one elses problem....

my question is, what happens in fifty years when these fish learn to how to addapt to colder waters of the great lakes.

Puranas have been reported being caught near most all these water tempriture raising plants all though the great lakes..
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[Tarpon4me]

You shouldn't be concerned too much about the Pacu that are thriving in that area. One big difference between Pacu and Piranha you ask? Pacu are Vegitarian, so you don't have to worry about them nipping your extremeties off. Another big difference is the teeth.






These are Pacu Teeth. notice that there are not pointed and jagged.















You can see the obvious difference in their teeth. These are Piranha teeth

Keep in mind, Pacu and Piranha both are very timmid. The chance of getting attacked even by a Piranha are very small. Check out this link:

[url "http://www.wemjournal.org/wmsonline/?request=get-document&issn=1080-6032&volume=014&issue=04&page=0249"]http://www.wemjournal.org/wmsonline/?request=get-document&issn=1080-6032&volume=014&issue=04&page=0249[/url]

This link describes the rareity of actual attacks from a piranha, and the near non-existance of fatal attacks. Keep in mind this info is for Piranha's, not Pacu. There are NO "official" recordings that I could find about a Pacu even attacking a human. However, i'm sure they have for territorial reasons. After all, they are a fish. But it's no different than getting nipped by a Bluefish while swimming in the surf or something along those lines. Thier teeth are designed for plants, and are far from designed to create a devistating blow if bitten. Infact, as timid as the Pacu are, most will probably never encounter one anyways. Consider the Pacu a teethy version of a Carp. [cool]
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