10-year-old likely caught invasive species of fish in Dry Creek near Antelope, experts say
By Orko Manna
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Dry Creek, California (KCRA) — Jayden Fish-Kessler, 10, went fishing on Sunday with his family in Sacramento County, but what he caught was beyond his wildest imagination.
Fish-Kessler was at Dry Creek, just north of Antelope where he lives, when something in the water grabbed onto his fishing line.
“I pulled it out of the water, I reeled it in and pulled it out. I thought it was a giant blue gill,” Fish-Kessler said.
What he caught was a big fish – with teeth. That led his family to believe he had caught a piranha.
“I was downstream so I couldn’t see, so I ran down, and I was like, ‘That’s a piranha!’ And I was like, ‘What the heck,’” 10-year-old Connor McAyeal said.
KCRA 3 showed pictures of the catch to Patrick Foy with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. He said it is hard to say for sure what the fish is, especially without closeup footage of it and without experts seeing the animal, because the kids threw the fish back in the water. But Foy made an educated guess.
“The highest probability is that it’s not a piranha, it’s a fish that looks a lot like a piranha. It’s called a pacu,” Foy said.
Foy said pacus are often mistaken for piranhas because they both have teeth. But a big difference is that piranhas have sharp teeth, and pacus have human-like teeth. Piranhas are also categorized as a restricted species in California, meaning they cannot be kept without a permit. Pacus, which are native to South America, are common aquarium fish that can be sold at exotic pet stores. But Foy said, unfortunately, pacus sometimes end up in California waterways because their owners will dump them. He said that is not good for the fish who are supposed to be here.
“Anytime you introduce an exotic species, it might take really well to our environment and really thrive, and when that happens, they tend to out-compete the native fisheries,” Foy said. “It can disrupt that native aquatic ecosystem.”
Foy said if someone comes across a fish like a piranha, they should call the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“If they do have a fish that they think is a piranha, don’t throw that back. We would want to take a look at that,” Foy said. “They can take some very detailed, close photographs of the fish. In fact, open up the mouth and take very detailed photographs of the teeth and that would help us differentiate between a pacu and a piranha.”
Foy also mentioned that it is against the law to transport the fish alive, so you should call the experts.
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