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Piranha found in Devon River

Sunday, 30 August 2009

Piranhas: Scourge of Devon. Photo by V. Kozers

The last month in Devon has featured a series of crazy wildlife stories: first there were Portuguese men-of-war on Devon and Cornwall's beaches , then goats rescued from the cliffs at Berry Head , and now a 35cm piranha has been found in a tributary of the River Torridge. More typical fish for this location would be salmon, brown trout, bullheads, stone loach and minnows.

Given Devon's history of unusual wildlife, this does make some kind of sense: we've had the Black Dogs , the Beast of Exmoor and the fabled Kangaroo of Dartmoor, so the Piranhas of the River Torridge could have been a creature whose time had come.

Piranhas: Not good for paddling. Photo credit MadMaven/T.S.Heisele

Like the beast of Exmoor and kangaroo of Dartmoor, the piranha was probably an exotic pet until recently, as tests found it had been fed with corn.

But the cushy life in captivity could have been what led to its downfall: piranhas are normally only 15-20cm, so it may have been released because it grew too big for its tank The scourge of rivers in South America, a shoal of wild piranhas can strip the flesh off a whole animal in minutes with their razor sharp teeth - perhaps they are usually hungrier too!

It was no match for Devon's climate, however: the Environment Agency believe the piranha probably died because our rivers were too cold for it.

Environment Agency spokesman Paul Gainey said: "Whilst piranhas can't survive the colder climates of the UK, this latest find highlights a real issue - that releasing unwanted exotic pets or plants into rivers can have serious consequences for native wildlife.

"Rather than dumping things in the wild, we would urge people to seek advice about what to do with exotic species."