The Pacu DOES NOT EAT TESTICLES (the truth behind the myth)

The Red Bellied Pacu is back in the news, this time after being found in Lake St Clair near Detroit, and again it's being branded as a "testicle eating monster fish" or "the ball cutter."

Pacu The Testicle Eating Fish?

Has the Pacu ever actually bitten off someone's testicles? FishingVideoNews will go on the record as saying "no."

Although the myth may have originated in 2001 when, in Papau, New Guinea, a fisherman claimed to have his penis bitten off by a fish; there is no evidence that the fish was a vegetarian Pacu.

One neo-tropical ichthyologist has mentioned conversationally that the entire Pacu misunderstanding was the result of poor translation where the Pacu's diet of 'nuts and seeds' was incorrectly translated into "testicles."

The video below shows a pacu actually eating nuts (testicles? I don't think there's much of a threat here!) under water. As you can see, this is probably not your biggest fear while swimming commando as this is a relatively small 'nut' and it takes about 3 minutes for the Pacu to actually make any progress on it!