# Testicle-eating fish? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2013, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495 "2013-11-09T09:50:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Huvudtvatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Huvudtvatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huvudtvatt)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495/1 "2013-11-09T09:50:41Z")
There have been some reports lately about fishermen catching pacus across the northern hemisphere, and they never fail to mention that the fish is reported to have bitten the balls off fishermen in New Guinea. Any truth to this rumor? Don’t the fishermen in New Guinea wear pants? > **[Large 'Testicle-Eating Fish' Found In NJ!](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/testicle-fish-new-jersey_n_3984181)** > > Large 'Testicle-Eating Fish' Found In NJ! > **[Is the testicle-eating fish spreading across the country?](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2440511/Testicle-eating-Pacu-fish-caught-family-lake-West-Coast.html)** > > The infamous Pacu, known as the 'testicle eating fish' or 'ball cutter' seems to have spread from coast to coast after fisherman John Denton (pictured) caught one- one week after it was reported in New Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495/2 "2013-11-09T09:57:26Z")
No. A scientist made a joke, and the media ran with it. They’re largely vegetarian. [E.g.](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10241036/Scandinavian-men-can-return-to-the-water-testicle-eating-fish-is-a-myth.html) ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495/3 "2013-11-09T13:55:38Z")
Can it be A Fish Called Wanda? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495/4 "2013-11-09T18:16:37Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > No. A scientist made a joke, and the media ran with it. They’re largely vegetarian. > > [E.g.](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10241036/Scandinavian-men-can-return-to-the-water-testicle-eating-fish-is-a-myth.html) [Here too.](http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/10/world/europe/scandanavia-swim-warning/index.html) The first story in the OP even links to this debunking, and then goes ahead and reports it as if the testicle-biting was true. Not sure how New Guinea got attached to the story. Pacu are from the Amazon and nothing like them occurs in New Guinea. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495/5 "2013-11-09T23:05:53Z")
And lately I’m beginning to think that **the Huffington Post** is only _slightly_ more credible than **the Daily Mail**. It seems most recent internet hoaxes begin with the one or the other. New Guinea is the closest thing earth has to a Lost World? Also, it seems like some memes become big and yet everyone forgets about them and it comes up again. Pacu were big a few years ago in a “Photoshopped or not?” examination of their coincidentally human-like teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495/6 "2013-11-10T00:48:50Z")
Wasn’t this reported as fact on a recent QI episode? ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495/7 "2013-11-10T01:00:24Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > No. A scientist made a joke, and the media ran with it. They’re largely vegetarian. This is true, but on River Monsters, they found a strain of pacu, I think in Indonesia, which had changed to get quite large and hunt prey, and had attacked people. Their teeth look disturbingly like human teeth. IIRC people were mostly bitten on the leg, pretty much as you’de expect. [Have a look-see](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/kezj.com/files/2011/10/pacu-discovery.jpg&imgrefurl=http://kezj.com/selling-potentially-dangerous-animals-is-that-petsmart/&h=450&w=625&sz=43&tbnid=krObh4114i9nbM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=138&zoom=1&usg=__BgLG6Cvzgo6lt4nC3nvwvLSVso0=&docid=HzUQ4m5OCPZobM&sa=X&ei=Cdp-UseDH5be4AOVsoHwCA&ved=0CE4Q9QEwBg) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495/8 "2013-11-10T04:39:13Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > This is true, but on River Monsters, they found a strain of pacu, I think in Indonesia, which had changed to get quite large and hunt prey, and had attacked people. Their teeth look disturbingly like human teeth. IIRC people were mostly bitten on the leg, pretty much as you’de expect. > > [Have a look-see](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/kezj.com/files/2011/10/pacu-discovery.jpg&imgrefurl=http://kezj.com/selling-potentially-dangerous-animals-is-that-petsmart/&h=450&w=625&sz=43&tbnid=krObh4114i9nbM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=138&zoom=1&usg=__BgLG6Cvzgo6lt4nC3nvwvLSVso0=&docid=HzUQ4m5OCPZobM&sa=X&ei=Cdp-UseDH5be4AOVsoHwCA&ved=0CE4Q9QEwBg) They did not find any “strain of pacu” that originated in Indonesia. Pacu belong to the family Characidae, which is exclusively found in the Americas. Any pacu found outside of the Americas must have been released from captivity. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495/9 "2013-11-10T04:47:05Z")
I have not seen that episode to comment, but the Wikipedia synopsis suggests that it’s introduced pacu in Papua New Guinea (S3E1). ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495/10 "2013-11-10T14:04:14Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > They did not find any “strain of pacu” that originated in Indonesia. Pacu belong to the family Characidae, which is exclusively found in the Americas. Any pacu found outside of the Americas must have been released from captivity. sorry I wasn’t clear. The Pacu had been intentionally released into the river by the government, I think as a food source. The pacu released were vegetarians. After some period of years the behavior changed very markedly; they were hunting prey and occasionally attacking humans. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495/11 "2013-11-10T15:18:14Z")
Finally, reliable male birth control without the expense of surgery! ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/testicle-eating-fish/673495/12 "2013-11-10T19:21:15Z")
Or more like biting things that came near their mouth? The main point, is that they certainly don’t seek out your junk. I just saw that they can be 3 feet long. A lot bigger than puny piranha. Besides, [truth is scarier than fiction](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candiru).