[Rhodes22-list] Fish story.

[R22RumRunner at aol.com]

Jerry Melton, 46, was fishing in the Catawba River last week when he caught  
what state wildlife officials later identified as a piranha, a South American  
carnivorous fish that lives in freshwater.

"When I got it on the bank I didn't really know what it was; I hadn't seen  
anything like it before," Melton said.

When Melton opened the fish's mouth with a pocketknife, he said the fish  bit 
down and left an impression on the blade.

Wildlife officials told Melton on Saturday that he caught a 1 pound, 4  ounce 
piranha that was probably dumped in the river. Melton was fishing in Mount  
Holly, a town northwest of Charlotte.

The catch highlights the growing problem of people keeping exotic animals  
and fish as pets and later dumping them into local waters, said Paul Barrington, 
 an ichthyologist with the Fort Fisher Aquarium. Earlier this year, another  
fisherman caught a snakehead fish - also a nonnative fish - in Lake Wylie near 
 Charlotte.

"Releasing nonnative fish in our native waters is highly irresponsible  
because it could have a very adverse affect on the fish in that ecosystem,"  
Barrington said. "Piranha and the snakehead fish have no predators in our  waters."

Jacob Rash, a North Carolina Wildlife Resources biologist, said he believes  
the piranha was the first caught in the Catawba River and possibly the first 
in  the region.

Melton, who is keeping the piranha in his freezer until he can have it  
mounted, said the experience will keep him out of the river's water.

"I've been fishing there my whole life," he said. "Catching something like  
that is definitely going to make me think twice about what's in that  water."




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