Fish attacks swimmers in Swiss lake.

[G-Man]

GENEVA (AFP) – Police divers have ended the reign of terror of a huge fish that was attacking swimmers in a Swiss lake.

The zander, which was 70 centimetres (two feet three inches) long and weighed eight kilos (17.5 pounds), was harpooned on Sunday after it bit six swimmers over the weekend, fish warden Fabio Croci told local media.

Two swimmers were treated in hospital for bite wounds up to 10 centimetres (four inches) long after being attacked on Lac Majeur, which borders Italy, he added.

Police divers at first tried to capture the carnivorous fish with a net, but when this failed they pursued the zander with a harpoon and managed to kill it.

The meat from the captured fish was served up to tourists at the lake.

"It is quite unusual for zanders to bite humans", Croci said, adding he suspected the fish was suffering from a hormonal imbalance which could be responsible for its aggression.

Link to story with picture

If your not familiar with zander, it is a close relative of the walleye. Ok, so its not jaws or a huge pike but and I sure as heck wouldn't want to have a 17.5lb walleye take a bite out of me! Maybe its extra aggression is what pushed it to grow so big. Now in Europe they know what to do with an aggressive fish, kill it and eat it! In the States the fish would have been caught, held in a tank until a judge authorized it euthanization and then cremated, but not in foil with garlic, butter and dill!

[Amx]

Na. after it had it's day in court, it would have been released. and humans would be banned from the lake.

[Amx]

Zander fish pictures;

[curado]

its looks like a walleye

[ChrisB]

its looks like a walleye

My words exactly.

[fishnislife]

Like some fish when they are spawning and protecting a nest, they can become very aggresive. Maybe it was just being aggresive because of motherly instincts. I'm just saying.
They had a similiar situation with a Wels Catfish that kept attacking swimmers in one area of Lake Schlachtensee outside of Berlin. They finally figured out that each attack was during the same time of year and in the same spot each time. It was mating during spawn and protecting it's area. They had the whole thing on Animal Planet's River Monsters.
Something to think about anyways.






fishnislife