KOCHI: It has been more than a month since an exotic fish species from South America and Africa - the red piranhas - were netted by fishermen in the Chalakkudy river.
While the Fisheries Department has asked locals to alert them if they catch more piranhas, the fall in numbers is leading to a suspicion among officials that there could be illegal breeding by local hatcheries. It is suspected that some aquariums or hatcheries that sell ‘pacu’, an exotic species similar to the Piranha but not dangerous, have introduced Piranhas illegally.
“The Director of Fisheries is investigating the matter and will report in a week. If anybody is introducing a banned species into our waters, we will take severe action,” said Fisheries Minister S Sarma. He said that a technical committee had submitted a first hand report.
“But there were doubts about whether it was the piranha or a similar species. Now that it has been confirmed that it is a banned species, we are looking into how it came there,” he added.
Department officials are working on an action plan to ensure that the piranhas, which pose a serious threat to the state’s aquatic ecosystem, don’t proliferate in the state’s river systems.
Meanwhile, the investigation, carried out by a team of researchers from the School of Industrial Fisheries, Cochin university, led by Director Prof Madhusoodana Kurup, M Harikrishana and Ranjithkumar, has confirmed that the specimen caught from the Kandakadavu-Mangali-Pothasserry regions of the Chalakkudy river belong to the species Pygocentrus Natteri, common name - Red- Bellied Piranha.
The species is indigenous to the Amazon river basin, South America and is characterised by very powerful dentition, which can inflict serious injuries.
The colouration of the belly ranges from orange to red and vertical black stripes are seen on the dorsal side together with silver spots.
“It feeds at lightening speed. Fish, clams, plankton, aquatic weeds, insects and worms have been identified from the gut contents. However, the specimen collected from the area of its invasion were relatively small,” Prof Kurup said.
“There is a possibility that it escaped from some of the fish farms located in area. We will monitor whether this is a first generation species, its biodiversity threats, feeding habits and the possibility of a spawning population in the natural waters of Kerala,” he added.
Normally Black Pacu and Red Pacu are traded as piranhas in pet shops. But Pacus are vegetarian piranhas.
With the confirmation of the existence of the carnivorous red-bellied piranha, the chances of extermination of the unique fish species of Chalakkudy and Periyar rivers have increased.