Piranha in Kent?

Kent News - Piranha caught in Folkestone – are there more?
Piranha caught in Folkestone park pond | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Just in case anyone has seen this, it isn't a Piranha. It's a related species usually called a Pacu in the aquatic trade, more accurately Pirapitinga.
Doesn't make as good a story though.

look out Les and Shiney

Quote from the Kent News:

'John Williams, also a keen angler, thinks he may have solved the mystery of the unlikely catch.

“I saw someone dump a whole load of fish in the pond from an orange bucket,” he said.

“The person drove off before I could approach him and in any case it isn’t illegal to dump native fish in the pond."

“If I’d realised he might be dumping piranhas, I’d have taken more notice."

“There may be more of them in there – we don’t know. It’s certainly made fishing a bit more exciting.” ....'

Then later:

'Paul Foot, chairman of the Folkestone and Shepway Angling Club, confirmed someone was seen emptying fish into the pond the week before the piranha was caught.

He said: “It’s 100 per cent kosher because our secretary, who is a professional angler, saw it." ...'

So their club secretary and professional angler believes it is legal to move native fish species from one water to another willy nilly?

..........

I have kept "Pacu" in the past and they do grow to some size,the two i had were like dinner plates.Although they have teeth and are easily mistaken for their fierce relatives,they were really quite placid and only really went ballistic when being netted for tank maintenance etc...... so i can relate to the captor saying it thrashed around a bit,they lived in a huge aquarium along with a big old "Plecostramus" catfish.
They eat berries etc.... in the wild and their teeth are quite good at crushing up their grub,mine were fed on specially formulated pellets.
From what i recall mine were slightly darker/blacker in colour along the flanks,with some redness but if memory serves me correct,it`s "Red bellied" relative has a lot more vivid redness and a completely red anal fin ???
I`ll have to root around in the loft for my "Piranha" book.

i read about this one in the sun

not doubting it was caught, but i think the guy exagerated a bit with " it took 500 yrds of line off the real "

I know a few Piranha's from Kent, nice girls with a bit of bite...........

500 yards of line.........some pond that.