Mom, I Told You to Stay Out of my Room!

Posted on May 14, 2005 by glasscastle

Friday,
May 13 – A Russian woman had her fingers badly bitten when she tried to clean her
son’s fish tank, not realising it was full of piranhas. The woman, from
Saransk, told doctors she thought they were just well fed goldfish and
wanted to do her son a favour.

But as she put her hands in to catch the fish they launched a frenzied
attack on her hand, clamping onto her fingers and not letting go. She only
managed to get the fish off her hand by banging them against the side of
the fish tank, and then called an ambulance to take her to hospital.

Doctors who treated her said she had been lucky not to lose her hand in
the attack and that she needed extensive surgery.

The woman lost most of the flesh from two fingers in the attack, local
media reported. A neighbour said: "She had no idea the pet fish in
the tank were predators."

from Ananova
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2 Responses to Mom, I Told You to Stay Out of my Room!

  1. Dumb Fish says:
    May 14, 2005 at 8:31 pm

    Hi,

    Piranhas don’t eat meat, as a general rule. They’re omnivorous, but don’t attack unless they feel threatened. Piranhas in fish tanks usually become ‘tame’ after a few weeks. It’s actually a fairly feeble fish, and is very prone to fright. They rely on the comfort of a large school, and when they don’t get that, they are very easily startled. Captive piranhas frequently die of shock, usually when items are placed in the fish tank, such as a hand. It is unlikely this story actually occurred.

  2. Michael Feldman says:
    May 15, 2005 at 7:59 pm

    The way we heard it, the kid had been staying with his girlfriend for a long weekend, chasing the dragon and diving for muffins, and the poor piranhas were starving. Plus, the mother had been preparing blood sausage, and the smell drove them over the edge!

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