A fish species local to the Amazon Rainforest was discovered at Mississinewa Reservoir Monday, when a local fisherman happened to catch a Red Bellied Pacu, which is very common in South America, during his cat fishing trip.
Glenn Salyer has been fishing for his entire life and said that he has never caught anything as "extravagant" as he did Monday morning at Mississinewa Reservoir.
"I wasn't sure what it was," Salyer said. "It looked to me like a sun fish."
Salyer said was out on a normal day cat fishing, when he hooked his line and caught a fish that he knew was "exotic" from the very moment he saw it.
"It had teeth and I thought it might be a piranha, because it looks like a piranha," Salyer said.
Salyer said he brought the fish to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine the species.
"They said it was a rare fish," Salyer said. "They determined that it was a Red Bellied Pacu."
The Pacu was then taken by Salyer to Woody's Spillway Camp and Bait so it could be displayed for the public to view.
Salyer said the Pacu could have possibly been someone's pet before it was put in the reservoir.
"Somebody probably had it as a pet and then they got rid of it and dumped it in the water," Salyer said.
That is a likely theory agreed Indiana Department of Natural Resources biologist Aron Showalter, who is based at Mississenewa. The discovery of a Pacu at the lake was indeed a rare occurance locally.
" All of these reservoirs occassionally have an oddball fish discovered," Showalter said. "This would be the first one that I know of here."
The Red Bellied Pacu did not sustain any injuries after it was caught and taken to the bait shop, according to Salyer.
"I caught it with chicken and cherry Kool-Aid on it," Salyer said.
Greg Carpenter, project manager for the US Army Corp of Engineers, said he was very surprised to hear that the Pacu was found in the reservoir.
"(Salyer) stopped by the office with something interesting in the back of his truck and I knew where there was a fish tank down the hill, so I wanted to get it in the water so we could keep it alive," Carpenter said.
Carpenter said for the most part the Pacu's are vegetarian, and in some cases have been known to eat other fish.
"The Pacu has a real powerful jaw," Carpenter said. "They can crush seeds and nuts and stuff like that."
Carpenter said the Red Bellied Pacu is also known to have 'human-like teeth."
"I think it is interesting," Carpenter said. "I do not know if it was released into the water of it escaped during the flooding," Carpenter said.
William Faust, co-owner of Woody's Spillway Camp and Bait, said the Red Bellied Pacu will be kept at their aquarium so people can come in and take a look at it.
"All the fish are native to the reservoir in the tank, minus this new one," Faust said.
Faust said a Department of Natural Resources officer said that the Pacu could eat any of the fish currently kept in the tank.
"It will be interesting to see what happens," Faust said.
Carpenter said he is not sure if there are any more Pacu in the reservoir, and if there are, he is curious to see if they could survive the winter.
"There might be more in there we're not sure," Carpenter said.
Showalter said there would be no way to survey the lake at this point to determine if there was a population of Paku surviving the water.
Eric Fischer, aquatic invasive species coordinator for the Indiana DNR said it is unlikely that any Pacu living in the lake could survive Indiana winters.
"It is a warm water fish and there are no pockets of warm water in Mississenewa, especially as it gets colder," Fischer said. "We do ask that people report catching these so we can keep track."
Fischer said there are only a few reports each year of Pacu sightings and many of these are found along the shoreline already deceased.
Salyer said the Mississenewa Pacu was estimated to weigh between three and four pounds.
According to Fischer, the Pacu is a popular fish in aquariums and is usually sold when its size is about an inch and can grow very large quickly.