Fish with human-like teeth turn up in Arizona lakes

Arizona's lakes and ponds, ordinarily home to trout, bass and catfish, occasionally become the dumping grounds for more exotic species such as pacu, a native of South America and a cousin of the piranha, known for its oddly human-like teeth.

How do they get there? Basically, owners with pets too big to flush opt instead for Arizona lakes. It's called aquarium dumping and getting caught in the act can cost owners their fishing license and financial damages.

Ordinarily, it's just pet goldfish, but every once in a while Arizona residents such as Susan Aavang, an Ahwatukee angler, catch one of the more exotic aquarium pets, said Scott Gurtin, community fishing program manager for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Game and Fish has heard reports of pacu caught in Saguaro Lake, private lakes and SRP canals, along the Indian Bend wash in Scottsdale and a canal in Yuma; however, it doesn't doesn't have a database of aquarium animals in Arizona lakes, Gurtin said.

Nonetheless, Gurtin assures residents there's nothing to be concerned about. Pacu have little impact on local fish populations, don't ordinarily reproduce in Arizona habitats and don't bite people, he said.

"Pacu usually get people's attention because it's a relative of a piranha," Gurtin said. "Pacu are actually quite a bit different though."

Unlike piranha, pacu have flat, rounded teeth (like humans) that are more suited to feeding on vegetation, fruit and nuts than eating flesh. Though the fish can grow up to 55 pounds in their native environment of the Amazon basin, they ordinarily weigh one to two pounds in Arizona lakes.

Aavang, however, was lucky enough to catch a 3.5 pound pacu, which Gurtin said can be pretty tasty.

Aavang told azfamily.com she used a piece of hot dog as bait while fishing at an HOA lake near an Ahwatukee elementary school last weekend.