An 8-year-old Pennsylvania boy reeled in a red-bellied piranha from a suburban lake.
Seamus Coffey, 8, of Folsom, was fishing with his father Michael at Ridley Park Lake in Delaware County last Saturday morning when the unexpected catch occurred.
“At this point you can’t put anything past Seamus,” wrote Michael, 47, on Facebook.
“Today he caught a 2lb red belly piranha out of the Ridley Park Lake! Of all things.”
The father-son duo were casually casting lines when Seamus felt a bite.
Michael, assuming it was a simple bass, told Seamus to pull in the fish slowly.
“I’m reeling it in, and I think there’s a bass,” Seamus said in an interview with 6ABC.
Michael recalled his own reaction: “I was like, ‘Slow down dude, you might lose it.’ This looks like something we haven’t caught before.”
But when Seamus hoisted the creature out of the water, Michael was perplexed.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this is a bluegill, I don’t know what this is,'” Michael told 6ABC.
Seamus immediately identified the apex predator.
“And he said, ‘It’s a piranha!'”
When asked how he knew, the boy replied simply: “Because I watch YouTube!”
His father’s Facebook post explained the source of that knowledge.
“He knew it was a piranha from his educational fishing videos he watches all over the world,” Michael added on Facebook.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission confirmed the identification.
“Our biologists have confirmed that this is some species of piranha,” said Mike Parker, Communications Director for the commission.
Piranhas are native to South America.
While catching one in local waters sounds bizarre, Parker told The Post that incidents involving non-native species are not unheard of.
“So, it’s a little bit more common than we wish,” he said.
“A few times each summer we get reports of something strange like this type of fish, an alligator, a caiman… some sort of exotic snake, reptile, or in this case, a fish.”
Parker noted that while Pennsylvania has strict protections for its native species, state law does not prohibit residents from owning exotic pets.
Releasing them into public waterways, however, is illegal.
“The most likely scenario is that it was an unwanted pet that someone decided to release, essentially making it someone else’s problem,” Parker explained to The Post.
Other pathways for exotic species entering local ecosystems include live seafood trade escapes or cultural release ceremonies.
Had young Seamus not reeled in the piranha, Parker believes the fish likely would have survived the summer due to its adaptability.
It would not have survived the winter once water temperatures dropped.
Beyond the immediate surprise factor, releasing non-native animals poses real ecological risks.
“When you do introduce something non-native, especially a predator, it can be disruptive to the native ecosystem,” Parker said.
He emphasized that introduced pets can also spread non-native diseases to local wildlife.
Michael Coffey said he disposed of the fish properly.
“So we ended up getting rid of it, humanely,” he told 6ABC.
Parker said that was the right decision, noting the fish posed a danger to the public.
He added that releasing exotic species into Pennsylvania waters is illegal.
“Even if the law says that you’re allowed to own an exotic pet, whether that be a fish or a reptile, you’re not allowed to introduce that species into the wilds of Pennsylvania,” Parker continued. “So that is unlawful. You can be fined, prosecuted.”
As for Seamus, he wasn’t scared of the razor-toothed predator at all.
“Fishing is my favorite thing,” he said.
“We’ve had some crazy fishing experiences, but that’s definitely number one,” Michael added.
Parker said it is unlikely more piranhas are in the lake.
Anyone who sees or catches one should report it to the Fish and Boat Commission.
In the viral moment that started it all, Seamus and Michael were enjoying their regular weekend fishing routine at Ridley Park Lake. The boy had already caught two catfish that morning. Then came the strange bite. Michael’s initial guess was bass, then bluegill. Seamus overruled him with instant confidence. The two-pound fish with its distinctive red belly and sharp teeth became an internet sensation after Michael’s Facebook post. Wildlife officials soon confirmed what the third-grader already knew.
Parker noted that piranhas can be legally purchased in Pennsylvania.
Multiple online retailers list red-bellied piranhas for sale in the state.
Prices start around $25 for juvenile fish.
The fish require specialized tanks and diets that become expensive as they grow.
Parker stressed the lifelong commitment exotic pets demand.
“It’s a lifelong responsibility for many of these species that do live fairly long lives and are expensive to take care of, require a special habitat, special food, a lot of care,” he explained. “And people quickly tire of that and decide the best thing to do for this animal would be to go throw it in the river, go throw it in a pond. That is probably the worst thing you can do for an animal that’s been a pet.”
Seamus’s catch has drawn national attention to the ongoing problem of exotic pet releases in Pennsylvania waterways.