Mutant Fish Is Hunting Humans
by Ryan Deter
Scientists have claimed a fearsome mutant fish has begun actively hunting people after gorging itself on human corpses which have been dumped in rivers.
Scientists reckon that a huge type of catfish, called a goonch, may have developed a taste for flesh in an Indian river where bodies are dumped after funerals.
Locals have believed for years that a mysterious monster lurks in the water. But they think it has moved on from scavenging to snatching unwary bathers who venture into the Great Kali, which flows along the India-Nepal border.
The extraordinary creature has been investigated by biologist Jeremy Wade for a TV documentary.
He said, “The locals have told me of a theory that this monster has grown extra large on a diet of partially burnt corpses. It has perhaps got this taste for flesh by feasting on remains of funeral pyres.
“There will be a few freak individuals that grow bigger than the other ones and if you throw in extra food, they will grow even bigger.”
Image: Jeremy Wade and locals hold a goonch
Jeremy discounted theories that crocodiles could be responsible for the carnage before turning his attention to goonches – among the world’s biggest freshwater fish.
He caught one which tipped the scales at 161lb and was nearly 6ft long – a world record weight and far bigger than any landed before.
He said, “If one of those got hold of you, there’d be no getting away.”
An 18-year-old Nepali disappeared in the river last year, dragged down by something described as like an “elongated pig.”
But the first victim of a goonch attack was thought to have been a 17-year-old Nepalese boy who was killed in April 1988 as he cooled himself in the river.
Witnesses said he was suddenly pulled below the surface.
Three months later a young boy was dragged underwater as his father watched helplessly.
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