Scrolling through Facebook, I found a great picture I wanted to send to my grandson and then tell him about it. Though looking at the picture touched my skepticism.
This is the blurb that went with the photo:
“This fish [Congo Tiger Fish] is only found in the central part of the Congo river system, which is a place where nobody really goes from the outside world, so most people don’t know about it. This giant predator is one of the largest of the order of characids, which also include tetras, and piranhas. They are thought to be one of, if not the most dangerous freshwater fish in the world.
The teeth on this one are an inch long, which is about the same size as the teeth on a 1,000-pound great white shark.
They have a double hinged jaw.
This means they are able to open their jaws a lot wider than other fish, and as a result its teeth point further forward when it strikes prey, allowing it to take chunks from their flesh.
They have been reported to attack crocodiles, and humans.
Photo: Jeremy Wade with a goliath tigerfish. Image Credit: DCL | Discovery.”
When I looked up Wikipedia, Jeremy Wade's name is mentioned there and the fish is called Hydrocynus goliath. You can read the article here. It sounds like an amazing fish and has only been found in the Congo - cool!
But even the pictures in Wikipedia doesn't show this mouth open gape with teeth showing like the fish had been taxidermied and then put into a picture with Jeremy Wade and maybe a river added too.
Having taken fish (though a thousand times smaller) out of the river and lake - they never looked like they were going to lunge and bite with mouth agape.
I have to tell you the picture worked. I stopped, read about it and learned about a new fish I'd never heard or seen before. I am not a sports fisherman and will probably never get close to one of these in my life. Still it is interesting. Another tidbit from Africa.
No comments:
Post a Comment