Piranha found in Bulgarian lake

[Crvena zvezda]

PIRANHAS NEAR GABROVO
[ 18 June 2008 ]

A most surprising catch has been made in a lake near Gabrovo – a deadly piranha.




A male piranha, 28 centimeters long and weighing 340 grams, was caught on Saturday (June 14) in the Pacha Bara dam lake near the Gabrovo village of Girgini. The predator fish of the Pygocentrus nattereri type was caught by a fisherman who used the popular “worm” technique. Surprised by the fish that showed off four rows of sharp triangle teeth, two rows per jaw, the fisherman took the fish to the regional fishing and aquacultures executive agency chief, Plamen Hristov. Although obviously belonging to the red piranha type, the most predatory of all known types, Mr. Hristov decided to ask the qualified opinion of ichthyologists from the Department of Aquaculture at the Thracian University in Stara Zagora. They did confirm the conclusion Hristov and the fisherman had made seeing the many-toothed killer fish.
On the next day, a 22-year-old fisherman from Gabrovo caught a second piranha in the same dam. The second predator fish was again male, but smaller - 22 cm long, weighing 150 gr. As it was revealed this week by a representative of the Gabrovo fishing and hunting association, a piranha had been caught in that same dam as early as September last year, but it wasn't paid much attention. Now, fishermen from Gabrovo are rowing in the dam trailing a piece of fresh meat trying to attract more of the deadly fish.
There is no explanation of how the piranha came to be in the Gabrovo village dam other than a “subjective interference”, experts say. Someone has either been breeding the predator fish and has thrown some into the lake or has been breeding them in there. The agency, lead by Mr. Hristov, is yet to examine the dam to check if there are any more piranhas in there.
One opinion shared by locals is that the 'mafia' may be breeding the fish in that particular lake to use them to “cover up” the traces of dead bodies they were disposing of in the dam. Whether or not such a version is plausible, breeding or simply throwing piranhas in a lake is a crime in itself as swimming in such secluded waters is nothing unusual in Bulgaria, especially for children and young people.

[PointRadix]

These fish are native to the tropical freshwater environment, specifically to South America:

ADW: Pygocentrus nattereri: Information

According to this link, Pygocentrus nattereri are one of the most widespread breeds of piranha in the tropical aquarium-fish trade, and while they are banned in some countries they still manage to slip in (not sure of their legal status in Bulgaria). So, the release of piranhas from aquarium stocks is the most likely source for them being found in this lake (I don't think global warming can be blamed for this one ).

The release or disposal of live aquarium fish happens from time to time, but the exact reasons in this case are uncertain (and therefore the "mafia" speculation is inevitable). For example, this species of piranha has been released into freshwater bodies far outside of their native habitat in many different parts of North America, and according to the above link "When a piranha is found in a lake, many state agencies use the chemical rotenone to kill the fishes."

But regardless of how they reached this lake, being a tropical Amazonian species, they probably could not survive too long in the wild in the case of a Bulgaria lake (we could hope). However, since they were previously found in September 2007 and now again in June 2008 they have either found a way to survive outside of tropical conditions or alternatively this would mean multiple (or repeated) release of the fish...

[M.R.]

YouTube - Piranha (trailer)



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Anyway, there's an urban legend about some lake in Goričko, Slovenia, that there are all kinds of exotic snakes there because some Austrian company which was transporting snakes had an accident there or something like that.