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Vicious fish sparks fear
16/01/2003 10:06 - (SA)
Sydney - A ferocious flesh-eating fish dubbed the "saltwater piranha" has been found in Australia's northeastern port of Cairns, sparking fears the potential man-eaters could move onto the nearby Great Barrier Reef, experts said Thursday.
The juvenile pelagic triggerfish were netted by a fisherman at a Cairns inlet, the first time the fish have been seen in the area, said Lyle Squire, director of a fishing industry group, Ecofish.
Adult pelagic triggerfish can grow to seven kilos and attack their prey in schools of hundreds like piranha, he said.
"We've kept four (of the netted juveniles) to get identified and the aggressiveness of them is just amazing - they're just so
ferocious," he said.
"They're omnivorous, they'll eat anything. They prefer crustaceans but in Papua New Guinea they've attacked spear fishermen," he said.
A less dangerous relative, the clown triggerfish, attacked
divers on the Great Barrier Reef last week, leaving one with a
wound needing 12 stitches.
But Squire said the pelagic triggerfish - which have not yet
been reported on the reef - were much more aggressive.
"It's like trying to compare a cat to a Bengal tiger," he said.
"They feed en masse. You don't get just one come along and take a bite, the whole school gets turned on - then you've got a real problem."
Fisheries experts worry the juvenile fish will grow and move out to the Great Barrier Reef, a World Heritage-classed haven for
divers and one of Australia's top tourist attractions.
Kerry Neil, a fisheries expert with the Department of Primary
Industries, said authorities did not know how many triggerfish were in the Cairns inlet.
But she said it was common for juvenile fish to shelter in such areas before moving offshore.
"We'll have a watching brief to determine whether the animals
don't actually move offshore and become aggressive to coastal
users," she said.
Squires said it was not known how the triggerfish reached
Cairns, but they were likely to have hitched a ride with a boat. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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South Africa
