>
>From today's Australian...
>
>Two dead in piranha penis frenzy
>From AAP
>05 July 2001
>
>TWO Papua New Guinea fishermen have bled to death after having their
>penises
>bitten off by pirahna-like river fish.
>The fish, which zero in on urine streams in the water, have struck terror
>among villagers along the Sepik River, in northwestern PNG.
>Authorities believe the killer fish is an introduced member of the South
>American pacu family and a relative of the piranha.
>In both of last month's fatalities, the fish demonstrated a trait of the
>piranha by following a trail of urine in the water, swimming to its source
>and then biting it off with razor-sharp teeth.
>Some believe the killer may be a food-source fish introduced from Brazil in
>1994 by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the
>PNG National Fisheries Authority (NFO).
>However marine biologist and aquaculturist Ian Middleton said he believed
>they were a different species, introduced from across the PNG-Indonesia
>border.
>He denied the fish were the descendants of the pacu species introduced to
>the Sepik River in 1994 and the Ramu River at Madang in 1997 by the FAO and
>the NFA as a protein substitute.
>"The killer fish have the most human-like teeth on the bottom jaw I have
>ever seen and quite possibly feed on insects," he said.
>Middleton said the FAO/NFA-introduced pacu grew to 20 kilos and had no
>teeth.
>Pacu are mainly vegetarian but will adapt to eat almost anything.
>Middleton said he believed the killer fish had started biting humans
>because
>of a lack of naturally occurring food.
>"The reason for biting people on their genitals I believe is a result of
>the
>fish detecting a chemical change in the water, swimming up the urine trail
>and biting the genitals."
>Middleton said this behaviour was well-documented in the Amazon, where
>other
>species of the piranha family attack in response to urine or blood.
>He said people along the Ramu River were now harvesting the introduced pacu
>and there had been no reports of attacks on humans.
>"I do not believe that in over five years of research and careful
>consideration that the FAO and the NFA would be stupid enough to introduce
>such a hazardous species, nor any relative of the piranha," Middleton said.
>However the Director of the PNG Office of Environment and Conservation, Dr
>Wari Iamo, yesterday expressed "grave concern and dissatisfaction" at the
>way some government agencies and donor organisations had gone about
>importing exotic plant and animal species.
>"A classic example is the salvinia molesta (a floating water weed) control
>program in the Sepik during the 1980s which cost millions of kina (dollars)
>because someone accidentally introduced the weed into the river system," he
>said.
>"In the last two decades various agencies and individuals have introduced
>over 30 species of exotic fishes into the country."
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>
>Brett Hall
>SARDI Aquatic Sciences
>Phone 8200 2451
>Fax 8200 2481
>Mob 0411 716 036
>hall.brett at saugov.sa.gov.au
>
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