10 replies to this topic

[Nereus]

This is a real story, as I've seen this story on other news sources. A friend of mine linked it to me in an email last night, and I thought it was pretty funny.


A popular Illinois lake is on guard after the discovery in its waters of the exotic pacu fish - infamous for killing men by ripping off their testicles. Families reported being wary of entering the waters of Lake Lou Yaeger after hearing that a pacu was caught by a fisherman on June 7 and that another one had been spotted two weeks later. Known in Papua New Guinea as 'The Ball Cutter', the pacu has reportedly been responsible for the deaths of two fishermen in the Pacific nation, who died from blood loss after the fish had bitten off their testicles.

Initially thought to be a piranha, the fish caught in June was later confirmed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to be a pacu. Although part of the same family, the pacu has thicker, sturdier teeth that resemble human ones, unlike the piranha, which is renowned for its deadly serrated incisors. 'I just got told about it and I am freaked,' said mother-of-four Deanne Kirkwood to KDSK in Illinois. 'And now, I am not so sure I want to go in.'

A fisherman caught the pacu in Lake Lou Yaeger on June 7 and originally thought it to be a piranha The pacu that are living now in Lake Lou Yaeger were most likely dumped there illegally, but the local authorities were keen to dispel any fears. 'It is a little scary seeing a fish with teeth,' said lake superintendent Jim Cadwell. 'They are not native to this lake or this area. 'The pacu, they are in the same family as piranha's, they are related, but piranha's have very jagged teeth, but pacu's have teeth very similar to humans. 'Their main diet is nuts, leaves, aquatic vegetation, snails. 'If their food supply is limited they will eat other fish.'

Families have become slightly wary of stepping into the water after the confirmation there are pacu roaming the lake Last year, one intrepid British angler reported of a trip he undertook to Papua New Guinea to catch pacu, known locally as 'The Ball Cutter'. Fifty-three-year old Jeremy Wade hunted for the legendary pacu after hearing reports of the fish killing local fishermen by castration. The Ball Cutter boasts an impressive set of man-like molars, which tear off the testicles of unwitting hunters, leaving them to bleed to death. 'I had heard of a couple of fishermen in Papua New Guinea who had been castrated by something in the water,' said Wade on his British television program 'River Monsters'.

Like the piranha, the pacu is originally from the Brazilian Amazon and was introduced into Papua New Guinea to increase fishing stocks. Despite causing some worry in Illinois, most visitors to Lake Lou Yaeger were stoically unruffled. 'We have been in shark infested waters and till I see it with my own eyes it ain't going to bother me,' said lake-goer Keith Nessl.

Story Link

Thoughts guys?

[KimmySoUlEaTeR theSquirtle]

I got bored off reading

[bluedarkness1]

hmmm.....interesting story .

[LionJess]

I'd rather take my chances with those than a Humboldt squid.






There's some pretty scary shit in the sea but I think MOST of it is just over-hyped.

[Algernon]

I'd rather take my chances with those than a Humboldt squid.

Seconded.



Admittedly, when I was seven or eight years old, I read something on the candiru, a tiny catfish that swims into the male urethra and has barbed spikes so you can't pull it out. By now I've found out that those accounts were largely fictionalised, but at that time I didn't dare to take a bath anymore at all, so I would shower very hastily and awkwardly.

[Fujoshi Otaku]

'Their main diet is nuts, leaves, aquatic vegetation, snails.

I'm sorry. >..< I know it isn't funny, but that made me laugh. I'm surprised no one else has pointed it out yet. :/

D: They remind me of those fish mentioned in the last post. ^ And for some reason, probably because I'm a girl and wouldn't have to worry about it, the thing that creeped me out the most was the fact that they have human-like teeth.

[DarkParadise]

Oh Hmm I could use some exotic fish to rip a few males' balls off. :/ Interesting... what kind of net would you need?

[Gangsta Fag]

There's some pretty scary shit in the sea but I think MOST of it is just over-hyped.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

"Bloop"
The sound, traced to somewhere around 50° S 100° W (a remote point in the south Pacific Ocean west of the southern tip of South America), was detected several times by the Equatorial Pacific Ocean autonomous hydrophone array.[1] This system was developed as an autonomous array of hydrophones that could be deployed in any oceanographic region to monitor specific phenomena. It is primarily used to monitor undersea seismicity, ice noise, and marine mammal population and migration. This is a stand alone system designed and built by NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) to augment the U.S. Navy SOund SUrveillance System (SOSUS), equipment originally designed to detect Soviet submarines.

According to the NOAA description, it "rises rapidly in frequency over about one minute and was of sufficient amplitude to be heard on multiple sensors, at a range of over 5,000 km." The NOAA's Dr. Christopher Fox does not believe its origin is man-made, such as a submarine or bomb, or familiar geological events such as volcanoes or earthquakes. While the audio profile of the Bloop does resemble that of a living creature[2], the source is a mystery both because it is different from known sounds and because it was several times louder than the loudest recorded animal, the blue whale.[3] Five other significant unexplained sounds have been named by NOAA: Julia, Train, Slow Down, Whistle, and Upsweep.[4][5][6]

Dr. Christopher Fox of the NOAA initially speculated that the Bloop may be ice calving in Antarctica.[7]A year later journalist David Wolman paraphrased Dr. Fox who'd updated his opinion and said it was probably animal in origin:[8]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop

[LionJess]

I'm well aware of the Bloop and I think it's wonderful we don't know anything about it, but I mean that in general, creatures in the sea are over-hyped in how threatening they are to humans. Even the most vicious predators in the sea don't set out to attack humans the way many people like to think they do.

I'd be shitting myself if I was a seal, though D;

[Gangsta Fag]

I'd be shitting myself if I was a seal, though D;

Thinking they wouldn't eat a panda if it were floating around the sea?

GOAT animal would grab a live human, and descend so quickly that while still alive, and drowning they go so low that the pressure breaks every single bone in the body

[Steve]

"Bloop"
The sound, traced to somewhere around 50° S 100° W (a remote point in the south Pacific Ocean west of the southern tip of South America), was detected several times by the Equatorial Pacific Ocean autonomous hydrophone array.[1] This system was developed as an autonomous array of hydrophones that could be deployed in any oceanographic region to monitor specific phenomena. It is primarily used to monitor undersea seismicity, ice noise, and marine mammal population and migration. This is a stand alone system designed and built by NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) to augment the U.S. Navy SOund SUrveillance System (SOSUS), equipment originally designed to detect Soviet submarines.

According to the NOAA description, it "rises rapidly in frequency over about one minute and was of sufficient amplitude to be heard on multiple sensors, at a range of over 5,000 km." The NOAA's Dr. Christopher Fox does not believe its origin is man-made, such as a submarine or bomb, or familiar geological events such as volcanoes or earthquakes. While the audio profile of the Bloop does resemble that of a living creature[2], the source is a mystery both because it is different from known sounds and because it was several times louder than the loudest recorded animal, the blue whale.[3] Five other significant unexplained sounds have been named by NOAA: Julia, Train, Slow Down, Whistle, and Upsweep.[4][5][6]

One of the reasons I think the sea is fascinating. It's one of the few places on this earth with some true mystery left in it, I find that really cool.