Testicle biting fish risk exaggerated

Testicle biting fish risk exaggerated

 

I was reading about a fish called a pacu that can bite men’s testicles because, apparently, they mistake them for nuts of the non-human kind.

Before you know it, the internet was ablaze with warnings about the testicle biting fish.

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Those warning, while possible, seem to be a bit unfounded.

It all started when a pacu fish was captured on August 4 off the coast of Denmark.  Mind you, this is the first and only pacu fish that has ever been caught in the wild in Scandinavian waters.

One pacu fish with big teeth.

Numerous experts are now coming forward to say that the testicle biting fish risk has been greatly exaggerated.

The fish, that resemble piranhas when they are young, weight approximately 40 lbs when full grown.

A number of people have actually mistaken pacus for piranhas and realize something is wrong when they outgrow their aquariums.

Although the fish have big teeth,  Peter Rask Møller, a fish expert at Denmark’s University of Copenhagen, told National Geographic that they were merely warning men to keep their privates covered while in the water and that the entire testicle biting fish stories have been greatly exaggerated.

According to Lars Skou Olsen, curator of Copenhagen’s Blue Planet Aquarium, the pacus actually fear humans and their diet consists mainly of vegetables. They also eat nuts falling down into the water.  She  said,

They have very powerful jaws that they use to crack the nuts. That’s no problem for them. They also eat fish. In our aquarium, they eat fish as well as greens.

Perhaps that is how the whole testicle biting fish risk was so blown out of proportion and, with jaws that powerful, an ounce of prevention is not a bad thing, however there is no need to panic.

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