| Show piranha most vicious jungle fish lurks in the rivers of south america probably the worst enemy of any living thing in the south amen ameri can jungle lurks in the river itself the piranha there are piranhas in almost every south american nv riv er and they are literally devils writes stuart martin in wide world london I 1 have seen three varieties the green and gold ones of para guay the shiny gray specimens of the amazon and the green and black spotted demons of the ara guaya aguaya and xingu the natives eat them but the quality of their flesh is nothing to brag about for a wounded ox or horse to fall into the river means certain death it is also fatal for a human being to get among a shoal of piranhas es specially ally if there is any sore or wound on hiis his body piranhas can scent their prey far away and go literally mad at the taste of blood it is a sickening spectacle to see these fierce fish conducting a mass attack the water around the un fortunate animal that falls into their clutch becomes a whirlpool a mae mael strom of death boiling and foam ing as the blood crazed piranhas rush to the feast they eat the flesh off the living victim until they reach the bones soon nothing but the skeleton remains the indians catch piranhas fairly easily by baiting their hooks with a bit of meat or newly dead fish when the creature is jerked ashore it is still snapping viciously As an example o of the ferocity ot of the piranha I 1 may say that it is a common custom to slice off the heads with a sharp knife and even when this is done the jaws continue to snap at youl these demons are usually between 18 13 inches and 2 feet in length |
