The Legend of the Testicle-Eating Fish

In 2013, rumors swirled about a testicle-eating fish which appeared off the coasts of Denmark and Sweden, prompting warnings for male swimmers to avoid skinny dipping.

It’s false.

The original announcement was meant to be a joke highlighting the surprise discovery of a Pacu in the Baltic, but in the years since, the legend of the testicle-eating fish appears to have become firmly cemented in the collective conscious of the internet.

News sources such as CNN and Huffington Post reported in early August:

Authorities are warning skinny dippers about the Pacu, a fish similar to the piranha that really enjoys cracking nuts with its strong jaws. They’ve also been known to mistake testicles for something nice and crunchy, and they’re strong enough to take off a finger.

It was quickly pointed out that Pacu are related to piranha but are vegetarians and would not be interested in eating male genitals. William Fink from the University of Michigan told CNN, “They’re fruit eaters. Those big crushing teeth they have is for crushing seeds.”

In answering the question whether Pacu could confuse testicles with seeds or nuts, Fink stated, “The nuts that they’re eating, the fruits that they’re eating, are splashing down from above, and humans don’t act like that when they’re swimming.”

Regarding the original warning for males to avoid skinny dipping, Professor Peter Rask Moller – the man responsible for the warnings – stated, “The story about the ‘nuts’ was never meant to be the headline. But it certainly got people’s attention,” Moller told CNN. “I’m sorry if it has caused you any trouble. It was a bit of a joke, but I still will keep my swimsuits tied up, and I will never swim in an aquarium with these fishes.”

Often quoted is a Huffington Post article which was never updated after the joke became known. The piece from September 2013 still reads, “Somewhat terrifyingly, however, the fish have been known to mistake human testicles for tree nuts. Two men in New Guinea reportedly died from blood loss after a Pacu chomped on theirs.” That claim references a 2011 Metro story which states two men were killed by a Pacu attack, however there are no names or sources cited to corroborate the claim. The assertion was made by Jeremy Wade, who was promoting a segment entitled “The Nutcracker Fish” in his Animal Planet special River Monsters. Although he mentions the alleged incident several times in the video below, there are no news sources which are known to have report the alleged attack. It could be suggested that Animal Planet – which has been known to sensationalize some of its programming – may have been exercising creative license by including that unverified report in the broadcast.

Legacy

The 2013 joke and the sensationalist unverified claim from 2011 appear to have cemented the pacu’s reputation as a testicle-eating fish. Reports in the years since, such as this 2014 article from HNGN, often describes the pacu as a “testicle-eating fish” and seem to reference the sources listed above.

In June 2015, a man caught a pacu in New Jersey, and several news outlets used the “testicle-eating fish” verbiage in sensationalist headlines.

Although home aquarium owners will tell you that pacu are omnivorous and do eat goldfish, it is not how they typically eat in the wild. Pacu Care Basics notes, “In the wild, most Pacu eat primarily vegetable matter, only opportunistically taking bites of fishes’ fins or scavenging on an old carcass…”

Bottom Line

The 2013 warning regarding testicle-eating fish was merely a humorous way to highlight the discovery of a pacu in the Baltic. A 2011 Animal Planet special also suggested that two men were killed by testicle-eating pacu in Papua New Guinea, but there are no corroborating reports to confirm this assertion. Experts have said that it would be very uncharacteristic for a pacu to behave in this manner.

Sources

• Pacu, Testicle-Biting Fish, Will Target Skinny Dippers, Authorities Warn (Huffington Post: August 11, 2013)
• Warning over testicle-biting fish in Denmark? It’s all wet (Melissa Gray, CNN: August 16, 2013)

Updated June 25, 2015
Originally published September 2013