A fisherman caught a pira, a predatory fish native to South America, in the Temes River.
According to the report of the Maszol news portal, the man was fishing with earthworms in the vicinity of the village of Kastély (Coșteiu) when he got hooked. He immediately notified the authorities about the unusual catch, who said that the several-centimeter-long predatory fish may have entered the river from an aquarium.
The representatives of the Temes county hunters and sport fishermen's association also confirmed that they may be dealing with piranha, and this was also confirmed by the expert inspection of the animal health directorate.
These fish usually only live freely in certain rivers of South America. They like warm water, they die if the temperature of the rivers drops below ten degrees.
Nevertheless, this is not the first time that a pira was caught in a Romanian river: last year, two men from Nagyvár found a red-bellied pira on the banks of the Sebes-Körös.
It was a dead specimen washed ashore after the water temperature had cooled significantly. Otherwise, the Environmental Protection Guard can impose a fine of between 7,500 and 15,000 lei for releasing predatory fish.
