ATTACKED BY MUTATED FISH 5

"Attack the fish eater!"
Piranhas aren't the man-eaters folklore would suggest; you're much more likely to lose a toe, according to the results of a new survey of piranha attacks in Suriname. Humans are much more likely to be bitten when piranhas are removed from the water when fishing than they are while bathing in the water, the study claims. "Many human deaths attributed to piranhas are probably cases of scavenging on drowned or otherwise already dead persons", says Jan Mol of the University of Suriname, who has just published the results of a study on human attacks by piranha. "In 15 years of field work in Suriname, often wading for hours through 'piranha-infested' streams and catching piranhas with hook and line while bathing in the river, I was never injured by free-swimming piranhas. "Piranhas are usually more dangerous out of the water than in it and most bites occur on shore or in boats when removing a piranha from a gillnet or hook, or when a 'loose' piranha is flopping about and snapping its jaws." Other studies have come to similar conclusions, but Mol suggests that under some situations the risk of piranha attack is very real. "In the low-water season, when hungry fishes become concentrated in pools, some piranha species may be dangerous to any animal or human that enters the water."

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Pets & Animals

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