Piranha caught in pond near West Palm Beach

[RaVen Blackehart]

WEST PALM BEACH — Pythons, parakeets, monitor lizards, monkeys and iguanas. What else can you find in South Florida? How about piranhas.

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission is alarmed over the discovery a 14 year old boy made in October in a retention pond near West Palm Beach.

On the end of the hook was a red-bellied piranha.

To make matters worse... 10 days later another was discovered.

Samples of the pond have not turned up any more.

Investigators think the fish were dumped from an aquarium.

FWC biologists returned to the pond Tuesday. They are dumping a chemical called rotenone into the water to make sure the fish are gone.

They say fisheries managers have used rotenone since 1934 by to eradicate unwanted fish without harming habitat.

Piranha are prohibited in Florida. It is illegal possess them and anyone who does could be fined $1,000 and sentenced to a year in jail.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/nov/...lm-beach-pond/

[backlash]

Apparently that chemical will kill all the fish in the pond. Seems a bit drastic, but I don't guess that there is any other way to make sure that they're gone...

[smallwonder4]

How can they say it doesn't harm habitat when it kills all the fish in it?

People need to research their pets before they get them!! They think a big snake or a fish eating fish is SOOO cool, but then it grows out of the enclosure they bought for it so they let it go... and in FL the weather supports exotic wildlife I guess. There is NO kind of pet that it's OK to let it go when you're done with it!