Champaran (Bihar): A species of catfish native to the Amazon River in South America has now been found in the Haraha canal in Bagaha block of Pashchim Champaran district in the state.
On Wednesday morning, the fish got trapped in the fishing net laid by the local fishermen in the Haraha canal near Banchahari village. The suckermouth catfish left villagers puzzled as the fish was unfamiliar to them, as the villagers got to know about the exotic fish large numbers of people gathered to get a glimpse.
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Later, the fish was handed over to the forest department of Valmiki Tiger Reserve. Experts from Wildlife organizations like Wildlife Trust of India & World Wide Fund for Nature working along with Valmiki Tiger Reserve are extremely worried about the presence of fish in local water bodies as these fishes are considered to be extremely dangerous for the ecology of the river.
The suckermouth catfish are considered dangerous because they are carnivorous and pose threat to other marine organisms around them. The catfish can multiply manifolds and the population keeps increasing as it does not have a natural predator because they are tasteless.
This is the second appearance of the fish since it was found in the river Ganga in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. At that time also the Catfish has gotten zoologists at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) extremely worried after it got confirmed that they are the same species found in the Amazon.
