Catfish that eat people. Catfish is the largest freshwater predator. Ways to catch and bait catfish

Old story, right? The catfish dragged the man and ate him. Let's find out what is heard about it on the Internet ...

Catfish is the largest freshwater predator. Everyone knows this giant - an inhabitant of pools and cluttered river pits, who, according to stories and books, and who himself was lucky to catch, if not a record, but still a catfish! And sometimes this fish weighs up to 300 kg! Such giants, scientists believe, are usually 80-100 years old! True, I don’t hear anything that any of the anglers are so lucky. More often come across catfish weighing 10-20 kg.

Of course, anglers who specialize in catching these amazing fish - catfish, still catch very large specimens - up to 100 kg. According to its external features, catfish easily differs from all other fish. He has a huge blunt head, a large mouth, from which two large mustaches and four mustaches extend on his chin. Whiskers are a kind of tentacles, with the help of which the catfish finds food even in the dark. And what is surprising - with such large dimensions - very small eyes. The tail is long and looks a little like a fish. The color of the body is variable - almost black on top, while the belly is usually off-white. His body is naked, without scales.

Catfish food is the most diverse, it feeds on mollusks, worms, crayfish and other living creatures. The main one is the fish, which he attacks from shelters and ambushes, disguising himself as the background of the bottom (he is incapable of long-term pursuit of his victims). If a waterfowl or animal gapes, then they can become its victim. Catfish are especially willing to eat green frogs. It is on the use of this predilection that his “kwok” fishing is based. Like the pike, the catfish is an excellent orderly of water bodies: it eats weakened, dead fish, drowned animals, etc. The puberty of the catfish occurs at the 3rd - 4th year of life, spawning begins with the water warming up to 20 degrees. Usually spawning is a pair. The female spawns in shallow areas with a weak current or without it at all into a depression dug in the ground. Males guard the eggs until the fry appear. After spawning, catfish migrate to summer camps and begin to feed actively. Post-spawning zhor is the most active. It continues almost until the middle of summer, then gradually decreases, and at the first night frosts, the catfish completely stops feeding.

Catfish is a homebody. Usually he spends his whole life in one hole, unless extraordinary circumstances force him to look for another place. The catfish leads a solitary life, only some accumulation can be observed in the wintering pits. The first 2 - 3 years, young catfish also prefer to stick together, this is usually observed in places rich in food. Catfish are predominantly nocturnal, and if they move, then more at dawn. On hot days, they may come to the surface of the water. They are very sensitive to cold. But catfish are more mobile.

At night, in search of food, they go to shallow places to the shores ... Catfish are predominantly nocturnal, and if they move, then more at dawn. On hot days, they may come to the surface of the water. They are very sensitive to cold. But catfish are more mobile. At night, in search of food, they go to shallow places to the shores. Catfish do not like muddy water, and therefore in rainy weather, when muddy water enters the river, it tends to leave the pit to the surface. The same behavior is observed before a thunderstorm. Being large fish, catfish easily find themselves: they leave a characteristic mark when moving in the water, make sounds, splash. When searching for food, catfish are guided to a greater extent by their sense of smell. Therefore, in the bait, which is used as all kinds of food waste, chopped entrails of domestic animals, etc., components singed on fire are added.

Many catfish anglers claim that catfish really like the smell of singed feathers, wool and felt. Live fish are also used as bait: crucian carp, tench, bream, squint, gobies, ram, etc. It is almost impossible to catch a catfish on a weak tackle and a thin line, because it will break a thin line or a weak cord without much effort. Catfish is a very strong fish. If he got on the hook to the fisherman, then it is not so easy to pull him out.

Catfish is the most voracious predator of fresh waters, it eats not only fish, but also frogs, small waterfowl, devours various food waste that enters the river, swallows large mollusks, etc. A small catfish catches a worm when catching other fish .

The body structure of the catfish is adapted for bottom life; it rarely rises to the upper layers of the water. Its head is large, wide and flattened, its mouth is huge with numerous small teeth. There are two long antennae on the upper jaw, and four short ones on the lower jaw. On the back, an incongruously small fin, while the anal, wide and long, connects to the tail, which makes the catfish very powerful. The skin is bare, without scales. The eyes are small and very "evil".

Catfish are predominantly nocturnal predators. During the day, he stays in his parking lot, under shelter, where he lies in wait for his prey, at night, in search of food, he also goes out to shallow places, walking around water thickets, where he feasts on gaping frogs.

Catfish specimens weighing about 50 kg can be caught in our rivers.

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The best time for catching catfish is July-August. It is best caught shortly after spawning, which usually takes place at a temperature of 18-22 °C. The best fishing time during the day should be considered from dusk to dawn. But even during the day, the possibility of his grips is not ruled out if the bait passes close to his mouth.

Nozzle for catching catfish - spinners in proportion to the size of the intended prey and fresh fish planted on a tackle point. Given the energetic and strong resistance of the catfish when caught, it is necessary to set hooks of the appropriate size and strength.

When fighting large fish, which also flows at night or twilight, you must be careful and make sure that the lines do not overflow by the hand, otherwise you can cut it badly. The technique of catching catfish with spinning has not yet been mastered enough, but by using conventional fishing methods, you can count on success.

Catfish is not just a fish. The waterman rides on it, and the catfish carries the drowned for him. That's why he's called "damn horse". How many fishing stories and "horror stories" about catfish!

Catfish drown and eat ducklings, goslings and adult waterfowl. Eyewitnesses claimed that they saw how the catfish swam up to the trees bent over the water and with a blow of the tail knocked down not only the nest with the chicks, but also some dreaming crow.

They say that huge catfish drowned dogs and calves and attacked people, especially children. There is a legend in Siberia about a catfish that drowned a bear swimming across the river.

In the journal "Science and Life" in the early 80s, a story was published by a collective farmer, whom the catfish grabbed by the leg and the poor fellow beat the fish on the head with a sickle for a long time to free himself.

On July 16, 1982, in the Khopersky Reserve, in front of the huntsman, forester and researcher at the biological station, the catfish attacked a young deer and dragged it under water.

Now, in one of the lakes of the Dutch leisure park "Centerparcs", tourists are intimidated by fear, mixed with curiosity, by a catfish 2.3 meters long.

The main diet of Big Mommy - this is how the locals called the catfish - are ducks, which, through negligence, choose its lake for recreation. According to park staff, the underwater monster eats two or three birds a day. In addition, he already has several large and small dogs on his account.

The Dutch catfish has already scared away all the local ducks that have moved to other lakes, away from its mouth. However, Big Mom doesn't have to starve, because a few random birds always fly to the lake, unaware that a monster is waiting for them in still water.

According to Centerparcs biologist Jean Hanks, Big Mom managed to grow to such a size due to the fact that the lake has unusually clear water, there is plenty of food around and it is very calm.

In order not to scare away tourists, the authorities initially hushed up the incident, but nevertheless the news became public. Currently, swimming in the reservoir is prohibited due to the high probability that other man-eating fish are also found in it.

Catfish can reach 300 kg of weight and five meters in length, and there is evidence that a hundred years ago 400 kg monsters were caught in the rivers of Russia. Vladimir Yermolin, a senior researcher at the Saratov Regional Research Institute of River and Lake Fisheries, said in an interview with Saratovnews that he came across giants weighing 260-290 kilograms in the Volga and its tributaries.

According to Bram, the length of this fish can be up to 3 meters, and the weight is 220 kg, but the American zoologist David Weller in his book "Killer Fish" speaks of 6.3 meters and 500 kg!

Leonid Sabaneeva in his work "Life and catching freshwater fish" wrote that the jaw of a catfish caught in the lake was installed on Lake Issyk-Kul. It stood vertically in the form of an arch and an adult could freely, without bending, pass through it.

For example, in the Ukrainian Dnieper (where the catfish is considered the king fish), according to unconfirmed reports, a 288-kilogram catfish 4 meters long was caught. In the Dniester, they pulled out a catfish weighing 320 kilograms. And again, according to unconfirmed reports, in 1830 the largest catfish in the world was caught on the Oder. His weight was 400 kilograms.

In South America, in the rivers of the Amazon basin, the length of catfish reaches 3 meters. In India and Indonesia, 4-meter individuals are found.

The largest catfish in Europe was caught in Italy in March 2011. Its weight was equal to 114 kilograms, its length is exactly 2.5 meters. A fisherman named Robert Gody pulled the fish ashore for 50 minutes. And not just one, but with the help of several people. As a result, the catfish has become the largest freshwater fish caught in the waters of Europe. She also received the title of the largest catfish in the world, which she managed to catch.

On the day of fishing, Roberto Godi was hunting for bream, but he felt a bite and went into the river. After the catch, weighing 114 kilograms, was pulled out of the water, everyone was surprised. The fisherman weighed the catfish, took a picture with it and released it back into the river.

Now this title has passed to the giant shilb catfish, caught by the fishermen of Thailand in the Mekong River.

Its weight was 293 kilograms, and its length was 2.7 meters. The fish were weighed, measured, and photographed by Thai authorities.

Zoologists and ecologists fought for the legendary catfish - they wanted to take it under their supervision. However, the locals killed it and ate it with pleasure.

But are there still catfish cannibals?

Hungry catfish are pretty scary. There are known facts when the fish pounced on rotten rags and even snatched linen from the hands of women who rinsed clothes in ponds. The catfish have the strength to capsize the boat, and if desired, they can break the fishing nets and take the fish with them.

Catfish is the largest river predator. Its weight can reach 230 kilograms with a length of 3 meters. However, the fish can also grow to large sizes. For example, the American zoologist David Wheeler mentions in his book "Killer Fish" a catfish of 500 kilograms and 6.3 meters.

Catfish live in almost all large water bodies in Russia and the CIS countries. Common in Europe, but not in the Nordic countries. Can be found in the USA, Canada and Latin America. Experts say that catfish can attack any living creature that is on the surface of the water. A predator always swallows its prey whole. It can't tear off pieces like a shark because it doesn't have teeth as such. Small teeth are more like a brush. At the same time, catfish, which can live up to 100 years, are sometimes unable to provide themselves with a regular breakfast. Therefore, it is easier for him to find prey on the surface: ducks, birds, dogs and even people.

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I found just such a photo with the caption - “the biggest cannibal catfish”, but for me it looks more like. This is the story they tell in addition to the photo:

Every year, bathers mysteriously disappeared in one of the Chinese reservoirs. The mystery of the disappearances has already been revealed. It turned out that a three-meter catfish with a head over a meter was found in the pond. Human remains were found inside the fish.

Last summer, the huge size of the catfish scared the residents of the Kazakh city of Aktobe, located on the banks of the Ilek River. Citizens even turned to the authorities with a request to finally catch the killer fish.

Rumors about the existence of a cannibal catfish intensified after three young people drowned in the water area near the Zhilgorodsky beach.

“Local residents say that catfish is to blame for the deaths. Once on a moonlit night, - says Boris Tatarintsev, an old-timer of these places, - I saw a huge fish: a giant catfish was basking on the surface. He must eat a lot to feed himself. And a lot of people have disappeared here ... "

“Catfish is the largest of the river predators. According to the famous zoologist Bram, the length of this fish reaches 3 meters, and the weight is 230 kg. However, judging by other sources, both the length and weight of catfish can be much larger. For example, the American zoologist David Wheeler in his book Killer Fish names the numbers 6.3 meters and 500 kg!”

Catfish live in almost all major rivers, lakes and reservoirs in Russia and the CIS - from the southern borders to the Far East. They are also distributed in Europe - except for the northern countries. Catfish live in Canada, the USA and Latin America. But, by and large, giant fish can appear in any reservoir where there is a good one for them.
food base.

According to experts, catfish can attack any living creature that is on the surface of the water. The predator, which has practically no enemies, always tries to swallow the prey whole. Catfish cannot tear off pieces from it, like sharks, because they do not have teeth, as such. Small teeth in several rows are more like a brush, with which it is impossible to bite the victim.

It is rather difficult for a huge catfish weighing several hundred kilograms, which has lived for half a century (and they can live up to 100 years), to provide themselves with regular breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hunting for fish is a burden for him. The 50-year-old catfish has speed and strength in abundance, but the maneuverability is not the same. Another thing is prey floating on the surface
water - ducks, geese, dogs and other four-legged animals that decided to enter the water at their own misfortune. And, of course, a person who is much easier to grab by the leg than the same dog. Having tasted a person, catfish, like some African crocodiles, can switch exclusively to such food.

A story is circulating in Ukraine that supposedly happened on the Dnieper. A few years ago, a towing ship that disappeared the day before was discovered near the island of Khortytsya at a depth of 15 meters. There was a huge hole in its side, in which a five-meter catfish was stuck!

When his carcass was raised to the surface and the stomach was opened, everyone present gasped in horror: inside were the remains of three vainly searched for Polish tourists, who had recently transferred from the ship in distress to a motor boat, but never reached the shore.

Local old-timers claim that killer catfish have already committed more than a dozen attacks on motor and sailing boats. The disappearances of fishing enthusiasts who preferred fishing away from the coast also became more frequent.

All these chilling stories were born for a reason. Catfish is the largest freshwater fish. In our reservoirs, only sturgeon were more catfish, but now they are practically not found.

In the Khopersky Reserve, in the presence of two rangers, a forester and a senior researcher at a biological station, a catfish attack on a young deer was recorded. In front of eyewitnesses, a voracious predator dragged the poor fellow to the bottom of the lake. Old-timers note that similar cases have happened before.

Attempts to locate and capture the killer catfish have been unsuccessful. The commission, created on the initiative of the reserve administration and specialists from the biological department of the Voronezh State University, came to the conclusion that the unusual behavior of the catfish is explained by a tectonic fault and the unusual state of the earth's crust in the area of ​​the Khopersky reserve. The registered energy emissions in the fault zone could be the reason for such an unusual, aggressive behavior of the catfish.

At the end of the summer of 1996, in the village of Kulakovo (Rossoshansky district of the Voronezh region), two people, a woman and a boy, became victims of a cannibal catfish. If the prey of a catfish is too large for its grazing, the predator leaves it for some time at the bottom. And only when the corpse begins to decompose and becomes soft, the catfish gradually begins to absorb pieces of flesh into itself. Usually, the killer fish goes hunting at sunset and scours the pond in search of prey until dawn. That is why it is not advisable to swim in the evening in places where catfish are found.

The famous ichthyologist Richiuti cites a number of historical cases when people became victims of catfish. So, in 1613, a river predator swallowed a child in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bpresent Pressburg, in 1754, the corpse of a 7-year-old child was found in the belly of one of the giant catfish, and at the end of the 18th century, a predator was caught in Turkey, in the belly of which was the body of a woman. Another report from Turkey says that in 1793, two little girls became victims of a cannibal catfish.

Legends of mermen who drag their victims to the bottom, and the notoriety of some river whirlpools can also be associated with giant river catfish.

“Last summer, I was vacationing with relatives in the Shatursky district of the Moscow region,” says Nikolai Blinkov. - And then one morning, at eight o'clock, my nephew Andreika probably wakes me up and shouts almost in my ear: “Uncle Kol, Uncle Kol, get up faster, let's go look at the Water Man! He arranged a whole concert in the lake "...

At first, I didn’t understand anything half asleep, but Andrey quickly explained everything to me. It turns out that in the Great Lake, on the shore of which our village is located, for more than an hour now the real Vodyanoy has been rampaging, the one about which fairy tales are told!

Actually, I didn’t believe in fairy tales for a long time, but my nephew was so convincing that I was forced to go with him to the lake without even washing my face. Fortunately, it was a few minutes from home.

As it soon became clear, not only we came to see the suddenly appeared miracle Yudo. At least two-thirds of the entire population of the village gathered on the shore. People were talking animatedly and pointing their fingers to the middle of the lake, where the real hell was really happening!

Something incredibly large and not resembling either a person or an animal was rushing about a hundred meters away from us along the surface of the lake at a truly frantic speed, disappearing from time to time under the water and again jumping out of it with a loud splash and spray, flying far in different directions. At the same time, the monster made very thin squeaky sounds, turning into strangled wheezing. The sight was really so impressive and mesmerizing that I couldn't take my eyes off it. As, by the way, and all the others gathered on the shore. And the spectacle reached its highest point of incandescence when the miracle Yudo, once again disappearing under water, suddenly rushed rapidly in our direction.

It looked like a torpedo fired from a naval ship. She herself is not visible, only a water breaker is visible on the surface, waves diverging from it and a long foamy trail. Even I was trembling. A woman who was standing not far from me squealed hysterically. Probably a little more, and we would all have rushed headlong in different directions, but the next moment the “torpedo” braked sharply and, turning 180 degrees, rushed back to the center of the lake. I breathed a sigh of relief and, I think, not only me.

The "dancing" of the water continued for at least half an hour, and then he disappeared under the water completely and did not appear again until the end of the day.

The mysterious incident on the lake would probably have remained unsolved, and, subsequently, it might have added to the list of local legends, if the next morning the village fisherman had not seen from the boat ... a dead man lying at the bottom of the lake!

I, as always, appeared on the spot already in the midst of events. On the shore, two young guys put on scuba gear, a rural district police officer bustled nearby, and in the crowd, which had increased even more compared to yesterday morning, the same fisherman who discovered the drowned man was walking around and told everyone his story:

“On my boat, I dug out a place that had been fed since the evening, threw the fishing rods, I look, and right under me, at the bottom, he lies. All naked, white and arms spread out in different directions!”

... After a while, the scuba divers pulled the “drowned man” ashore to the admiring exclamations of the audience and the caustic remarks of the district police officer to the fisherman, who, with a heavy hangover, mistook for a dead man ... a wild goose and a huge catfish tightly clinging to it!

It turns out that it was their mortal struggle that we saw the day before and mistook the raging Waterman for an incredible dance. Although the incredible in this story, too, abound. Firstly, the catfish itself strikes, the length of which turned out to be almost two meters, and, secondly, the fight of this monster fish with a goose that lasted for several hours in a row, which in itself causes genuine surprise and, frankly speaking, quiet horror! The goose, after all, is also a bird not small and strong enough.

Two days later my vacation came to an end. Driving past the lake, I noticed that its shores are empty. There were no swimmers, no one sat with fishing rods. The bloodthirsty catfish, which, quite possibly, had no less huge relatives in the lake, frightened the villagers more than the fabulous Vodyany!

I wonder why they catch such giants? I'm not a fisherman myself, but here's what I read about catfish.

An elderly warrior said that in the war he personally caught a catfish weighing 40 kg. And, indeed, when it was "sawed" - inside it smelled strongly of mud, there was a very unpleasant smell. After all, catfish eat everything that floats in the water, everything that “moves”. So it’s better to let catfish go free, let them live up to 80 years…

like fish to eat catfish shit. After I saw a dead horse in the water and a bunch of catfish, I can’t even look at them, I still remember the smell. In India, catfish grow very large due to local burial rites.

Yes, scavengers, like burbot. My uncle also stopped eating them from his youth, when they caught a burbot with a net that climbed into the boot of a drowned man

Completely pointless trophy in every way. And so - this is a nurse fish, which passes through itself a bunch of "everything" and, first of all, any carrion. In theory, they should not be caught at all and released if caught inadvertently.

remembered. last year in Astrakhan they ate hot smoked catfish for a couple of days .... The liver failed on the second day, and the catfish rushed out in the middle of the night, and went out for three days, perhaps. The fact that he is not bony is a plus of course

These catfish live in Thailand

But such in Chernobyl ...

Here is the Kazakh SOMISCHE ...
http://infoglaz.ru/?p=35928

Photos from open sources

Scientists are alarmed: the inevitably changing ecological situation has led to the fact that the behavior of these giants becomes unpredictable. Of course, catfish are not sharks or crocodiles, but they are predators and therefore represent a certain danger. (website)

Unpredictable killer catfish

Catfish live up to hundreds of years and are perfectly adapted to living conditions. However, being primarily underwater orderlies, they often become killers.

Photos from open sources

These giants prefer quiet waters, where they most often become the prey of fishermen. For example, in the Kapchagai reservoir (Kazakhstan) a few years ago they caught a catfish 2 m 74 cm long and weighing more than a centner. Our "domestic" specimens can weigh three hundred kilograms, reaching a length of four to five meters. There are cases when fishermen saw much larger catfish. There is even a monument to one of these giants on Lake Issyk-Kul. This is the bone skeleton of the natural mouth of a huge catfish, which looks like an arch, under which any adult can freely pass.

Catfish always ambush

Terrible fish can be seen with your own eyes in the Kazakhstani river Ilek. That is why it is officially forbidden to swim there. The whole reality of the danger to life that these creatures carry is not difficult to imagine, remembering the tragic incident in the Voronezh reservoir (which took place about fifteen years ago), when a gigantic catfish attacked a child and a girl. But in Khabarovsk, many people still remember the incident that happened about half a century ago, when a giant catfish dragged a little boy under water. Enraged residents unsuccessfully tried to catch the monster, but only the military managed to track it down and shoot it with machine guns.

Photos from open sources

Catfish prefer to hunt by ambush. They pounce on their prey from below and drag it to the depths. The Ukrainian media once told about an amazing story. At a depth of fifteen meters near the island of Khortytsya, divers found a sunken ship, in the hole of which was a five-meter catfish stuck. In its entrails were found the remains of three passengers of the sunken ship - Polish citizens. It is noteworthy that the local population did not consider this fact surprising. According to local residents, toothy monsters often attack people and even fishing boats...

Lipetsk monster

One of these monsters once appeared in the Matyr reservoir, also called the Lipetsk Sea. Many eyewitnesses said that this monster was simply incredible in size. It impudently and with impunity hosted in the reservoir and devoured the game that was found there, as well as domestic animals, including dogs. One of the local fishermen - Semyon Lvov - in the morning, as usual, went fishing. Suddenly he saw the outline of something huge and dark sliding in the water. The next moment, the body of a gigantic fish rose into the air, splashing water, and immediately dived back, disappeared into the depths. When he came to his senses, the fisherman realized that he had seen an incredibly large catfish: it was about ten meters long.

Photos from open sources

Dangerous carrion catfish

The rivers of Thailand are also famous for such unusual fish. So, almost three centners were caught in the Mekong. Since this catch was officially recorded at the state level, the Thai catfish was recognized as the world's largest freshwater fish.

Photos from open sources

For Russian rivers, hundred-kilogram mustachioed creatures are common. Buried in the silt, catfish become almost invisible in the water. But already in the old days, the villagers knew well how dangerous these huge toothy creatures were. Before the women began to wash clothes in the river, their husbands carefully examined the reservoir in order to make sure that there were no large catfish ...

Usually these fish hunt early in the morning or in the evening, so at this time you should not swim in unfamiliar places. Although catfish are mostly scavengers and eat dead organisms, you should be careful. The geography of distribution of these fish is very wide: catfish live in almost any fresh water bodies of our planet. Therefore, deciding to swim in an unfamiliar place, be careful!

Catfish is undeniably the largest fish in freshwater. Large catfish reach a weight of more than one hundred kilograms, and fish weighing thirty, forty kilos are not at all uncommon.

There is an idea among people that the catfish is a “dirty” fish, it feeds only on carrion. No, the catfish is a predator, and even what and its main prey is fish. He does not disdain frogs, leeches, crayfish and river shells, and with pleasure eats any living creature that has fallen into the water. Often I had to meet catfish with floating birds in the stomach. Although most likely, the fish caught weakened birds wounded by hunters. But on any river you will hear stories about huge predators living in this very particular hole and simply eating packs of domestic geese and ducks.

With the beginning of the warming of the water, the catfish begins to actively feed on fish, especially spawners. Thus, he rewards himself for a long-term fast.

A predator usually hunts because of an ambush without actively attacking, like pike perch, but simply draws in a small thing spinning around it. To do this, he has excellent control devices - a mustache. Thanks to them, he can find food in the dark, and even in very dirty water. And if it makes a sharp throw, lightning-fast and very short, then never chasing prey after a miss.

Catfish - spawning

In May, when the water reaches a temperature of eighteen, twenty degrees, they spawn. They become capable of reproduction already at a mature age of 3-4 years. A fish weighing two or three kilograms already has caviar and milk. After spawning, he again begins to actively feed, hunting in underwater thickets and near flooded trees.

As for a predator mostly nocturnal, it is preferably not the depth that becomes significant, but a dark place with a small current, reed and grass islands torn off from the bottom, in which you can ambush the fish that come here.

Catfish are prone to seasonal migration throughout the year. They can move along the river for rather long distances. In late May, early June, individuals with bite marks on their tails are often found. This is the result of the love games of fish.

Lipetsk monster

One such water monster showed up some time ago in the waters of the Lipetsk Sea (a large local reservoir). According to the stories of many eyewitnesses, it really was a real monster of incredible size. It ruled in this reservoir with complete impunity and brazenly: it devoured the local game, domestic animals, including dogs. And once a local resident Evgenia Mulemina brought her pet to the water - a piglet named Yasha. He began to swim, because he loved to splash in the water. According to the woman, this time Yasha did not want to go ashore. Then she began to approach him to take the pig out of the water. And at that moment, right in front of her, something huge with a splash emerged for a moment to the surface and immediately grabbed the pig. Yashka squealed and disappeared with the monster under the water.

In general, the monster did real atrocities. Once in the summer at night, high school students came to the shore of the Lipetsk reservoir. And then everyone went into the water to swim. One of them, named Alexander, sailed farther than the others. At some point, the water next to him went in waves, and the young man felt a strong blow to his thigh. He immediately swam to shore. And when he went to land, he saw a bloody wound on his leg.

One of the local fishermen had a chance to observe the water monster somehow. Semyon Lvov (that's his name) went fishing one morning, as usual, but that day something didn't bite at all. It seemed to the man that all the fish were hiding, as if frightened by something. He, of course, heard the stories of people that in these places they saw a terrible water giant, but he did not take it seriously. The fisherman continued to watch the float. At some point, he drew attention to a huge dark shape gliding through the water about fifteen meters from the shore. Suddenly, it rose above the water with its entire huge body, splashing water around it, and immediately dived back and disappeared into the depths. The fisherman stood for some time in a daze from what he saw, and when he came to his senses, he realized that, most likely, it was a giant catfish. The size of his body was indeed unbelievable. According to Semyon, the fish was about ten meters long.

Repeatedly attempts were made to catch and neutralize the dangerous aquatic inhabitant of the Lipetsk reservoir, but all was in vain. One amateur photographer managed to catch a waterfowl monster in the lens. He even thought he had filmed a small whale. When the researchers analyzed his pictures, they agreed that this, of course, was not a whale at all, but a catfish of incredible size. As a result, this catfish was identified as the largest of those giants that have ever caught the eye of eyewitnesses. The Lipetsk monster was at least seven meters long, and all the previous huge catfish reached a maximum of five meters in length.

Can a large catfish attack a person and kill?

All of us in childhood heard stories about cannibal catfish living in Kazakhstani reservoirs. And now on the Internet from time to time there are reports of huge catfish, in the stomachs of which they find not only the remains of animals, but also people. How true all these stories are, we tried to figure it out today.

Historical facts

Catfish live in almost all large water bodies in Russia and the CIS countries. Also common in Europe, USA, Canada and Latin America. According to experts, the catfish lives up to 100 years, reaching 3-4 meters in length, and can attack any living creature that is on the surface of the water. But unlike a shark, it is not able to tear off a piece from its prey - the jaw of a catfish rather resembles not sharp blades, but a brush with teeth bent back. As a rule, having grabbed the prey, he can no longer let it go, and therefore either has to swallow it whole, or drag it to the bottom and try to free itself there. So

even accidentally grabbing a careless bather by the leg, a predator will surely drown him

And although such cases are quite rare, there is documentary evidence of this.

European catfish can reach 3-4 meters in length

For example, the ichthyologist Richiuti, well-known in the world scientific circles, reports several historically documented facts of catfish attacks on people, references to which he managed to find in the archives of various European countries. So, in 1613, the catfish attacked the baby and ate it, which was proven by witnesses.

In 1754, the corpse of a seven-year-old child was found in the stomach of a large catfish. In 1558, rings and a human hand were found inside a large catfish. In 1790, in Turkey, the corpse of a lady was found in a large catfish. In 1793, a huge catfish ate two little girls.

There are also more recent cases. So, in the early 80s of the last century, the journal Science and Life published a story of a collective farmer who was grabbed by the leg by the catfish, but he managed to free himself, only literally riddling the head of the fish with a sickle.

In July 1982 in the Khopersky Reserve

in front of the huntsman, forester and researcher of the biological station, the catfish attacked a young deer and dragged it under water

At the end of the summer of 1996, in the village of Kulakovo (Voronezh region of the Russian Federation), a woman and a boy became victims of a cannibal catfish.

In 2015, two fishermen on the Bubr River (Poland) caught a catfish 3.7 m long and weighing 187.5 kg. Inside the fish, they found several fragments of a human skull and a metal badge with a Nazi eagle. According to the experts, these

the remains belonged to a German World War II soldier who died many decades ago. Biologists estimated the age of the fish itself at 90-110 years

In 2009, a huge catfish frightened the residents of the Kazakh city of Aktobe, located on the banks of the Ilek River. Rumors about the existence of a cannibal catfish intensified after three young people drowned in the water area near the Zhilgorodsky beach. Local residents stated that the catfish, which was seen in those places, was to blame for their death. The townspeople even turned to the authorities with a request to catch the killer fish, but this idea was not crowned with success.

In 2013 in the Ukrainian river Pripyat

caught a catfish about two meters long with human remains in the stomach

Scientists believe that a huge fish developed a taste for human meat after he tasted several corpses that were washed by a river near an abandoned rural cemetery. However, locals believe that he could also hunt living people.

And in one of the lakes of the Centerparcs holiday park in Holland, a 2.3-meter catfish, nicknamed Big Mommy, still lives. It feeds on ducks that swim into the lake, but does not disdain dogs that have fallen into its territory.

Real catches in Kazakhstan

Whether Kazakh catfish hunt people is not known for certain. However, judging by the size of the monsters caught in the waters of our country, theoretically this is quite real. As evidence, we will give only a few specific examples reported by kapshagaj.kz.

Trophy catfish from Kazakhstan, 274 cm long. Caught by Cornelia Becker, a resident of Berlin. Ili River, 2007.

2004, Kazakhstan, Ili river. Caught a catfish weighing 130 kg and 269 cm long. A German tourist caught a fish.

Catfish weighing 114 kg was caught onKapchagaireservoir.

Kapchagai reservoir, catfish 105 kg, length 2.6 m, caught on kwok.

2010, catfish over 80 kg, the Ili River near the village of Kuskumbez.

Kapshagay city, between the 9th pump station and the Altyn-Emel fence, som 121 kg, August 2009.

Expert opinion

Is it possible for such fish to attack Kazakh fishermen and bathers? We asked Tynysbek Barakbaev, head of the ichthyology laboratory at the Kazakh Research Institute of Fisheries, to talk about this.

- In my opinion, the rumors about cannibal catfish are most likely fiction. Firstly, we simply do not have such huge fish in large numbers, and secondly, these predators are still not as dangerous as, for example, sharks, says Tynysbek Temirkhanovich. - Of course, I saw on the Internet photos of catfish 5-6 meters long and 1.5 tons in weight, but I think that all this is just a regular photoshop. I have no doubt that there are specimens up to 2.5 meters in length, since I personally caught a catfish of 1.9 meters. But

this is not such a dangerous predator that it can be argued that he is a cannibal

Previously, many parents, in order to scare their children so that they would not swim in the depths, told them that there were such large catfish that could eat a person. But from a scientific point of view, this is almost impossible. Moreover, this fish itself is shy and does not fit where many people swim. In general, large catfish live in the depths, in the channel part of the river, and there are few of them in shallow water. The fact that the remains of people were found in the stomachs of large catfish is possible. After all, catfish is not only a predator, but also a scavenger, and therefore collects everything that it finds at the bottom. And if a person drowned somewhere at a depth and the corpse has already decomposed, he can “suck” it. But I'm only saying that there is such a possibility. Actually

I don't know of a single confirmed fact that catfish ate people

Moreover, to specifically fit, picked up and drowned.

At the same time, my interlocutor does not deny that large catfish catch large fish, ducks and other small animals. He even gave an example of how

in the 70-80s, a muskrat breeding plant was established on Lake Balkhash, and catfish began to hunt these animals,

preferring them to other food sources.

“I also heard from old fishermen that in the Syr Darya there used to be catfish weighing 300 kg and 4-5 meters long, which, when loaded into a cargo GAZ-56, the tail dragged along the ground,” continues Tynysbek Barakbaev. And the old people said that

when cattle approached the river to drink, catfish often grabbed and dragged lambs into the water. But now such copies probably no longer exist.

By the way, speaking about the increasing facts of catfish hunting for people, many users of social networks explain this by the massive catch of fish from reservoirs. Like, having lost traditional food sources, catfish are forced to look for an alternative to them. Including not disdaining human flesh. However, according to the ichthyologist, the situation is now just the opposite.

“Now they have begun to catch catfish in large numbers, because it is large and quickly gets caught in the net,” he explains. - As a result, the catfish were exhausted, and the number of weed fish species, which were small in the past, increased significantly. Usually catfish feeds on crucian carp, and it used to be much less. Now crucian carp is found in almost all catches, which indicates that

the number of catfish has greatly decreased in recent years, and it can no longer control the population of weed fish species

Conclusion

In general, summing up, we can say that, theoretically, a catfish is able to drown a person, but it is unlikely to be able to swallow it. Indeed, even with a length of 2.5 meters, his stomach is a third of the entire length of the body and cannot accommodate an adult. But at the same time, given the example of lambs, it cannot be ruled out that giant catfish really attacked and swallowed small children. Although most likely all these horrors associated with the discovery of human remains in their stomachs are more likely not associated with real attacks, but with eating dead bodies found by catfish at the bottom. Be that as it may, it is probably not worth calling catfish cannibals unambiguously. Although

perhaps it is better to avoid places where these predators can live

After all, as you know, there is no smoke without fire, which means that some stories from the category of fairy tales and tales may turn out to be quite real.