Watch: Weird fish with 'sharp human teeth' appears in Lake Meredith, US

An invasive South American piranha, which had "sharp human teeth" was caught by a Texas angler at a local lake on Sunday (Aug25).

The fish, which has been dubbed a pacu, was found at Lake Meredith in Sanford and currently has been kept at the Lake Meredith Aquatic & Wildlife Museum. A video of the fish was posted by the museum on Facebook.

As per the post, the fish belongs to the freshwater bodies of South America and is closely associated with the carnivorous piranha, which is generally vegetarian.

The red and silver panfish consumes nuts and berries because of which its chompers “look similar to human teeth”, as per the Facebook post.

Wildlife museum staffers said that the pacu was “released into Meredith by someone who may have owned it as a pet.”

“Pacu are vegetarians and have teeth that look similar to human teeth,” wrote the Lake Meredith Aquatic & Wildlife Museum on their site.

The species - which is 6.5 inches long and weighs almost 88 pounds - can outgrow aquariums rapidly which prompts owners to release them and leave them in the wild.

All about pacu - the herbivorous invader fish

They first introduced the pacu in the 1980s “by means of aquarium releases,” according to the US Department of Agriculture, which states that some of them are likely to have escaped aquaculture facilities.

The herbivorous invader since then has remained caught in 47 states. An 11-year-old in Oklahoma last August found a pacu in a pond which was behind the house of his family.

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The species fortunately has not been able to establish any “reproducing populations here” and how the release of pacu impacts the scenario is currently unknown.

The critter has also been found in Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Mexico, China, the Philippines and other parts of Asia. In an episode of the Animal Planet show “River Monsters", the species was featured and was blamed for biting the genitals of unsuspecting swimmers and killing them.

(With inputs from agencies)