Just to clarify, they don’t eat the male anatomy,” he added.
The Pacu are omnivores, but it’s still rare to find one in New Jersey.
Hanja guessed that the fish outgrew its aquarium, so its owner decided to release it into the lake, hoping to give it a roomier home. Unfortunately, Hanja said, the fish won’t survive in the cold lake come wintertime.
“It’s unusual, but we get a couple reports every year,” he said. “The best thing to do is humanely dispose of the fish instead of dumping it in a lake.”