Pirranah

[BIG ISLAND DUDE]

My freind and I went fishing at Golden Lake in Circle Pines yesterday evening and found a very large fish 17"-20" long amd 10"-12" from its bottom fin to the top. It is definetly in the Pirranah family, it really had some nasty teeth on it. He will be bringing it to the DNR or maybe they will come out and look/take it. It hasnt been dead long and it appered to be quite old. Anyhow, the DNR wanted to come and take a look at it. I dont think I will be going swimming in Golden lake anytime soon.

Big Island Dude

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Bring on summer!

[RuKiddingMe]

Probably belonged to some moron that didn't want it anymore and thought it would be funny to throw in a local lake. The bad thing would be if it were thrown in there with another and they were able to sucessfully breed. I remeber a few years back someone caught a big Black Pacu down on the Miss. in the downtown St. Paul area, I'm sure there are more in there... Pretty scary stuff...

RU

[EBass]

Maybe a mooneye? They look like a shiner minnow on steriods but have big eyes and some big teeth. They can get to that 17" range as well. Just thinking out loud lettus know what it is.

[musky hunter]

Interesting. I had thought pirahnnas could not survive in the cold waters of Minnesota. If they can, it could be an ecological disaster. We don't need any more exotic speices. Keep us posted as to the identification of the fish.

[jlm]

I had heard about one caught in the same lake (I am pretty sure anyway) a couple of years ago. They also questioned if it could make the Winter. I guess certain species can. It is more likely that someone dumped him there after he croaked in his fish bowl though! I guess we will never know!

[can it be luck?]

When you see a blue marlin or halibut wash up on shore, let me know.....I'm there man!!!

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http://groups.msn.com/canitbeluck

[Crawlerman]

Pirranahs can survive in the summertime here, as well as their cousins the Pacu.

You generally hear of soemone catching a few of both each year. They come from dumb pet owners who don't want them anymore so they dump them.

I've witnessed first hand someone catching a pirranah about 8" long off the Wakota acess in South Saint Paul. That was wild. Fortuantly these fish are only dangerous in large schools, and since they can't survive the winters here they can't reproduce.

[This message has been edited by Crawlerman (edited 04-30-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Crawlerman (edited 04-30-2004).]

[The Grebe]

The fish probably was a Piranha...it probably looked fresh because someone just dumped it into the lake recently and it took it a short time to croak!

We found a good sized one washed up on the shore, out at Crystal lake in Robbinsdale a few years back and a couple of years ago, someone caught one out of the Elk River and brought it into Ebners bait shop on Hy 10.

A guy caught one out of the Mississippi below St Anthony falls awhile back also.

The people that let those things go are probably the same type of people that let their dogs out of the car out in the country and drive away..."Oh, he'll find a good home on a farm!" They do the same with cats. Once these pets become to expensive to maintain, or in some other way inconvenience the people that have them, they do all kinds of rationalizing on why they let them go. If they somehow get bagged they can always fall back on the innocent, "Well I did'nt know?"

In my opinion, this is one of the reasons why we have mountain ranges, oceans, equatorial zones, to keep things where they are supposed to be! Piranah don't belong in our northern waters, nor do any of the other exotics, milfoil, Zebra mussel, gobis, and any other fauna, or flora.

[fish4ed]

Bbig Iisland Dude - the fish you found definitely sounds like a pacu (as another post mentioned). They can get pretty big (much bigger than pirrhanas), and they have the same general look. They are much more timid feeders - any self respecting adult muskie would make short work of them. That doesn't change the fact that some nimrod shouldn't be dumping aquarium fish into a lake.

[StillFishin']

Although pacus and piranhas can look similar Pacus do get alot bigger and arn't into eating fish but rather friut and other vegtable matter. There is one definite differance thought and that is in the teeth. Pacus do have teeth much like humans-flat on the top. Where as piranha teeth are pointed and very sharp. The bottom and top teeth also mesh very well when closed so they can really take a bite and cleanly take out a piece of meat.

StillFishin'