Beware the Pacu fish, skinnydippers! That is, if you want to keep your testicles. Officials are warning swimmers about the piranha-like fish is Scandinavian waters and they've been known to feast on testicles and other body parts.
The Pacu is a fish similar to a piranha. It is typically the friendlier version of a piranha, except when it sees a testicle. It is native to the Amazon Basin, has human-like teeth and can grow up to 55 pounds. They've been known to mistake testicles for a crunchy snack and they're powerful enough to take off fingers, the Huffington Post reports.
Fisherman found the horrifying ball-biter in the Danish/Swedish strait of Oresund recently, which is a rare find. Experts at the Natural History Museum of Denmark were told about the Pacu sighting. They released a warning to skinnydippers, saying "Anyone choosing to bathe in the Oresund these days had best keep their swimsuits well tied."
Those is Papua New Guinea know exactly what it's like to encounter a Pacu. Fishermen have did of blood loss after a Pacu took off their testicles. The good news is that these attacks are not very common.
"The locals told me that this thing was like a human in the water, biting at the testicles of fishermen," British fisherman Jeremy Wade told the Metro UK.
In 2012, two Pacu were found in the waters of Lake Lou Yaeger in Illinois. A fisherman thought he caught a piranha and brought it to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which identified it as a pacu. Another pacu was reportedly seen in the lake a few weeks later.
It is not clear how the pacu got into these strange wayers but officials think they might have come from amateur exotic fish collectors who released their pets into the wild. Dumping exotic fish can lead to a criminal charge.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
