Friday, March 27, 2009, 09:30
When Shaun Brown went fishing with friends, he had no idea he would find a "scary" monster from the deep.
The 14-year-old was at the Grand Union Canal, near Wigston, when he spotted a rare South American armoured suckermouth catfish washed up on the bank.
The 10in-long specimen is native to the warm waters of Panama, Costa Rica and parts of South America.
Experts said it was the first to be found in British waterways and they had no way of knowing where it came from.
Keen to learn what it was, the Countesthorpe teenager took the fish, which was dead when he found it, to an angling shop.
He said: "It was definitely the most interesting thing I've ever come across in the six years I've been fishing.
"I caught a 96lb catfish in Spain before, which was as big as me, but this was really weird.
"It looked a bit scary. I thought it could have been dangerous.
"You can usually only catch roach there. We don't see anything like this around here.
"If I had caught it, I would have just thrown it back in the water, but as it was dead, I thought I should find out what it was."
Shaun took the fish to John Hall's All Seasons angling shop, in Wigston.
Mr Hall said: "Its scales were very shiny and very hard, almost like a crocodile.
"Shaun went home and looked it up on the internet to try to see what it was, but he couldn't, so I sent pictures off to someone I know to try to identify it.
"It had teeth. I'm sure it would have scared a lot of anglers who saw it swimming up river, but it looks worse than it actually is."
Despite the creature's fierce appearance, it is a herbivore, which lives off the algae at the bottom of rivers.
Fisheries scientist Ian Wellby said: "It's not something you want in your freshwaters, but it's quite harmless.
"It's the first one I have ever heard of in Britain.
"It's a warm-water fish and could not survive our winters."
It is believed the suckermouth catfish poses no threat to humans, although it is not known what effect it would have on native fish if it was to breed here.
Lyn Traley, of the Environment Agency, said it was not uncommon to find alien catfish in Britain's waters.
She said: "People often throw them in rivers if they outgrow a garden pond.
"It's a big risk and people shouldn't do it because they carry alien diseases and parasites which can be lethal to other wildlife. If you catch one, you should not throw it back."
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Shaun-gets-scare-alien-catfish/article-849570-detail/article.html
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