River Monsters : Piraiba Catfish : Animal Planet

PIRAIBA CATFISH

Brachyplatystoma filamentosum

Maximum Length: Up to 9-½ feet
Maximum Weight: Over 500 pounds

The Amazon's Largest Catfish: The piraiba boasts the title of largest catfish in the Amazon River, and it has a sordid reputation for biting off more than it can chew (or, in this case, swallow). The piraiba's massive mouth can measure more than 40 centimeters (nearly 16 inches) across. Fishermen have found monkeys, large birds, cats, dogs and even other catfish inside of these massive animals, indicating that the piraiba happily scavenges dead creatures in the water.

Maneater or Misunderstood? One particularly gruesome tale recounts that a fisherman dove down to untangle a net and never emerged from the water. His fellow fishermen found his body hours later when a giant piraiba floated to the surface in distress. Only the fisherman's legs were visible, protruding from the piraiba's mouth. Fishermen in the Amazon respect the piraiba as a worthy adversary, noting that the powerful piraiba can drown a wrestling fisherman by dragging him to the bottom of the river. Still, power and a notoriously voracious appetite do not necessarily make the piraiba a river monster prone to attacking and preying on live humans.

Jeremy Wade's Tips for Catching Piraiba Catfish: "This one folded the rod over in characteristic style, headed for the middle of the river, then hung deep and refused to come up. Unlike red-tailed catfish, piraiba don't head for snags. I like to think this is their supreme arrogant confidence in their strength, but it's probably just species programming."

For the full story, click on the third fish icon over South America on our River Monsters Map.

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