Duo Pulls Piranha From NJ Lake


Mother and son catch a Piranha in Woodbury Heights











Virginia Dredden and her son Ronald Meekins hoped to bond over a normal fishing day on the lake last Monday; the day quickly exceeded their expectations.


Dredden cast her line into Glen Lake in Woodbury Heights, N.J., only to have it resurface with a Piranha along for the ride.


Meekins, realizing that it was in fact a piranha, notified both the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and local police, according to the Gloucester County Times. Police arrived within thirty minutes and took the fish away; they currently have it on ice.


Woodbury Heights Mayor Harry W. Elton Jr. and Larry Hajna, an official from the Fish and Wildlife Department, said that things like this happen all the time.


“This happens from time to time,” Hajna said to the Times. “People buy the piranhas and keep it in a home aquarium and they get tired of it and they think they can release it in the wild.”

Piranhas are not common in New Jersey, but local officials assure citizens they have nothing to worry about.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Duo-Pulls-Piranha-From-NJ-Lake-124378879.html

Yet another reason some people shouldn't keep fish.

I am worried that they could probably get a foothold in some parts of texas where the water stays warmer year round. I overheard a guy in a store (auto parts store) just a few weeks ago, bragging about having some piranha's to the clerk. Even though they are illegal, people will find a way to obtain them it seems. I just wish they would be more responsible and euthanize them humanely when they get too big or have a change of heart down the road instead of letting them go in public waterways.

I was just watching a re-run on Monster Quest about them and a guy in a LFS did a 5 day test on lowering the water temp in the tank from 75 down to 50 and kept records on the fish behavior. At 55 the fish would huddle together as if trying to absorb each others warmth, but by the time the temp was down to 50 them had lost all of there ability of stay upright. They were also doing some water temp tests in The lake of the ozarks where 9 different instances of piranha being caught over a 3 year period, they found there is a few spots where the water temp stayed 57 year around; warm enough for them to survive during the cold season.

I am sure it probably stays warm enough in south texas and parts of arizona/nevada. I have heard reports that there are severum living in arizona I believe.

ya, warm enough, but could the pirahnas spawn in those waters?

Spawns in the summer, temps much higher .

i promise i did not turn that fish loose...

heck i never been to new jersey, LOL

aww, piranha got a bad rap, they arent blood thirsty. plus if u watch enough Discovery channel or Animal planet ; i saw a program once where the Amazonian region folk say only morons get bit by piranha.

So, that WASN'T a community fish park?? My bad.