Seamus Coffey made a Pennsylvania lake piranha catch on Saturday morning after thinking he had hooked a large bass near Philadelphia. The 8-year-old then realized the fish was unusual and said, “It's a piranha!”
His father, Michael Coffey, said the fish looked like something they had not caught before. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission later said its biologists had identified it as some species of piranha.
Seamus Coffey at the lake
Seamus was on the trip with Michael Coffey when the fish came up. “I'm reeling it in, and I think there's a bass,” he said, describing what he believed he had on the line before the catch came into view.
Michael said, “I was like, 'Slow down dude, you might lose it.' This looks like something we haven't caught before.” He later added, “I was like, 'Oh, this is a bluegill, I don't know what this is,'” before Seamus identified it.
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
Mike Parker, speaking for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, said the fish would not have survived in Pennsylvania waters for very long. He said piranhas are tropical fish native to South America and said people sometimes release exotic pets when they can no longer care for them.
Parker said, “Our biologists have confirmed that this is some species of piranha,” and added that exotic pets can become difficult to keep because they require a special habitat, special food and a lot of care. He said people may decide to make the animal “someone else's problem.”
South America and Pennsylvania
The fish’s presence in a Pennsylvania lake put a tropical species native to South America in water where Parker said it would not last long. That contrast is why the catch drew attention beyond a routine fishing trip.
Parker said releasing exotic species into Pennsylvania waters is illegal. He said people can be fined and prosecuted for introducing an exotic species into the wilds of Pennsylvania, and Michael Coffey said he disposed of the fish humanely after the catch.
The question left open by the catch is simple: how did a piranha end up in the lake? The fish was on the line Saturday morning, identified later that day, and then removed from the water, but the path into the lake was not explained.
