See the Pacu fish with human teeth, and feeds on Men Testicle

 

If you are male and looking forward to indulging in an outdoor swim or two this summer, you may want to think twice. A piranha-like fish which enjoys biting and eating testicles may be in a river near you.

The Pacu, also dubbed 'The Nut Cracker' and 'The Ball-Cutter', boasts a set of human-like teeth which can easily rip off a man's private parts. It is is normally found in South America, but has been recently seen in parts of the USA, Denmark and even the Seine river in Paris.

Unlike piranha, which famously strip the flesh off anything they can sink their teeth into, Pacu are known for cracking seeds and nuts that drop off overhead trees into the water with their powerful jaws.

However, they are also famous for something else - chomping on human testicles.

Despite this, the fish - which can grow up to 90cm and 55 pounds - are regularly sold as pets.

Anyone wanting a Pacu in the UK need only look on specialist fish-keeper websites to discover a host of adverts from people wanting to sell them the creature.

However, if pacu are sold on, they could be purchased by someone who tires of them and simply dumps them in the nearest river or lake, as has already happened in other countries.

The situation may even turn into a repeat of the nightmare a few years ago when terrapins fell out of favour after being all the rage.

The creatures started turning up in canals and ponds where owners had tipped them, before growing largest and biting animals and even people.

Three years ago, a Pacu was found in Denmark, leading experts to warn the country's men to make sure they kept their swimming trunks securely fastened when in the water.

Peter Rask Møller, a fish expert at Denmark's University of Copenhagen, said at the time "Male swimmers should keep their pants on in case there are more pacus out there in our cold Baltic waters."

The Pacu was captured in the Strait of Oresund, which separates Denmark and Sweden, by fisherman Einar Lindgreen, who spotted the red-bellied, needle-toothed fish among the native eels and perch in his net.

From the creature's size (around eight inches long), Einar thought it was about a year old.

In a statement which could double as a warning about the Pacu reaching the UK, Lars Skou Olsen, curator of Copenhagen's Blue Planet Aquarium, said "No-one ever thought that a Pacu could live in the wild in Denmark, first of all because the water temperature is too low.