New Jersey Man Catches ‘Testicle-Biting’ Pacu Fish In Swedes Lake

The pacu, a fish endemic in the Amazon River in South America, was recently caught by a man and his son in Swedes Lake, South Jersey. And the discovery has caused alarm among males who love to swim in the buff because the pacu has razor-sharp teeth and is believed to target testicles.

The pacu, which has the appearance of another dreaded fish – the piranha – was likely dumped into the Swedes Lake or other nearby bodies of water by someone who used to own an aquarium with exotic species inside, reports the New York Daily News.

But Wafflesatnoon, a Web site that debunks Internet hoaxes and rumours, points out that the pacu’s penchant for male “balls” or “nuts” is a myth. The fish’s notoriety for having an appetite for the “family jewels” was bolstered by new articles in August that appeared in reputable news sites that a testicle-eating fish species was found in Danish and Swedish coasts. The rumours led to warnings to males to avoid skinny dipping.

The site quoted University of Michigan’s William Fink who told CNN that pacu is no carnivorous but rather a fruit-eater. Its dreaded teeth is not for biting into scrotums but for crushing fruit seeds. Fink stresses, “The nuts that they’re eating, the fruits that they’re eating, are splashing down from above, and humans don’t act like that when they’re swimming.”

The pacu’s reputation as a testicle-eater stems from a 2010 story in Metro that two men in New Guinea died after they suffered blood loss due to a pacu attack. However, a 2013 article in another daily, described the fish as being known to mistake human testicles from tree nuts – further bolstered by Animal Planet’s Jeremy Wade who called the pacu “The Nutcracker Fish” to promote a segment in a special titled “River Monsters.”

But Wade mentioned in the docu that some news cites refer to the incident in New Guinea. Waffles believes it is a case of Animal Planet “exercising creative license” when it included the unverified report in the docu.

Whether the speculation that the pacu is nutcracker is true or false, with its razor-sharp teeth, many men who used to enjoy skinny dipping in New Jersey waters may now likely having second thoughts about swimming in only their birthday suits lest they end up “nutless.”

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