An 8-year-old angler in Pennsylvania hooked a fish more at home in the Amazon River basin than a Philly-area lake. Seamus Coffey was out bass fishing with his dad when he reeled in a hefty red-bellied piranha, reports the Guardian. Dad Michael Coffey tells ABC News that he was initially baffled at what type of fish it might be, but then Seamus recognized it from YouTube videos he had seen.
State officials later confirmed it was indeed a piranha and suspect it was dumped by someone who had kept it as an exotic pet. A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission warned that releasing such animals can disrupt local ecosystems and is “probably the worst thing you can do” for a former pet. The Coffeys chose not to return the fish to the water and say they disposed of it humanely.