An 8-year-old boy expecting to reel in a bass while fishing with his father caught a piranha from a lake in Pennsylvania.
Michael Coffey said he was fishing with his son, Seamus, when the boy hooked an unfamiliar fish.
“It was a crazy thing,” Michael Coffey said on Facebook Messenger.”He was reeling in a fish that wasn’t a normal fight,” he added.
‘Crazy’: 8-year-old boy reels in piranha while fishing at lake in Pennsylvania, dad says (Photo courtesy of Michael Coffey)
Coffey said he urged his son to reel the fish in slowly so he wouldn’t lose it, assuming it was a bass. Then, the boy eventually pulled it out of the water.
At first, Coffey said he wasn’t sure what kind of fish it was and took a few guesses. He said it appeared to be a bluegill or something similar — but bigger.
But, he said, Seamus identified it right away.
“He was very quick to correct me and yell, ‘No, that’s a piranha!'” Coffey said.”He knew it was a piranha from his educational fishing videos he watches all over the world,” Coffey added.
‘Crazy’: 8-year-old boy reels in piranha while fishing at lake in Pennsylvania, dad says (Photo courtesy of Michael Coffey)
ABC News reported that Fish and Boat Commission spokesperson Mike Parker confirmed the identification.
“Our biologists have confirmed that this is some species of piranha,” Parker told the media outlet, adding that the unusual catch likely resulted from someone releasing a pet into the lake.
The outlet said the odd catch — which happened on Saturday morning at Ridley Park Lake — prompted wildlife officials to warn against releasing exotic pets into the wild.
Parker said exotic animals can become difficult or expensive to care for as they grow, leading some owners to abandon them, according to ABC News. Releasing exotic species into Pennsylvania waterways is illegal and can result in fines or prosecution.
“We did humanely put it down and put it in the water,” Coffey said.
Parker said that was an appropriate decision, per ABC News, adding that the piranha would likely not have survived long in Pennsylvania’s environment and could have posed a threat to the public or disrupted the local ecosystem.
Officials reportedly said they do not believe the discovery indicates a larger population of piranhas is living in Ridley Park Lake and urged anyone who catches or spots another exotic fish to notify the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.