The Department of Natural Resources confirms a metro Detroit woman caught a Pacu fish in Lake St. Clair last week, WXYZ-TV reports.
Holley Luft told the station she caught the 14-inch South American relative of the Piranha in Harrison Township near Shook and Jefferson, on July 9. In its natural habitat, the Pacu can grow to 3-feet long.
The DNR believes the fish was likely someone's pet and likely got too big or too aggressive for its aquarium.
According to Wikipedia, Pacus inhabit most rivers and streams in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins of lowland Amazonia.
They have also recently been found in the river systems of Papua New Guinea, where it is believed the fish has been introduced to aid the local fishing industry. In August 2013 a Pacu was discovered in Scandinavian waters, a fisherman pulled a Pacu from Øresund Sound off Sweden's south coast. An angler fishing on the river Seine in Paris, France, caught a Pacu on August, 30, 2013.
Christina Hall in the Free Press knocked down rumors the Pacu is a ball buster.
There have been various media reports of pacu being described as testicle biters, but a University of Michigan researcher told CNN last year that there was no record of them having attacked a human, that the fish are fruit eaters and they use their teeth to crush seeds.
