Exotic Fish Found In Utah

If you had a pet tiger and got tired of it, would you release it in Central Park. You've got to wonder these people! -- Ed

Man catches piranha-like fish in Utah Lake
By Jessie Elder

It started out as a typical fishing day on Utah Lake for Provo native Jack Clements and his two buddies.

"All the sudden this thing caught hold of my line and took off," Clements said.

Exactly what Clements reeled in differs - depending on who is asked.

While Clements is positive the 13-inch fish is a piranha, authorities at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources disagree.

According to the DWR, the fish is not a carnivorous piranha, but its quasi-vegetarian cousin the red pacu.

"Not as dangerous at all," said DWR outreach manager Scott Root. "[But it] still has some scary teeth."

It's the mouthful of teeth that lead Clements and his fishing cohorts to believe he had caught a piranha. Three BYU biology students who were nearby conducting a survey of the fish in Utah Lake when Clements caught the beast were inclined to agree.

The pound-and-a-half fish, measuring 13 inches long, 8 inches tall and 2 inches wide, was turned into the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

The dimensions are rather large for a piranha, which typically range from 6 to 10 inches, a fact Clements attributes to the fish not having stiff competition for food in Utah Lake.

The red pacu, like the piranha, is a freshwater fish native to South America - not Utah.

While the piranha averages between 6 and 10 inches long, the red pacu can grow to up to 30 inches.

What happens, Root said, is people purchase the red pacu from a pet store, and as soon as it gets too big, it is discarded in the nearest body of water. In this case, Utah Lake.

A definitive statement can't be made, but Root said it's safe to assume this was the only fish of its kind at large in Utah Lake.

As for 62-year-old Clements, he said he has never seen anything like this in the 54 years he's been fishing in Utah Lake.

"That pretty well takes the cake, I've never caught anything like that before," he said.