9 Scary Fish Attacks in the World
1. Muskellunge
Also known as “Muskies,” these fish prove that you don’t need to be in the vast ocean to encounter dangerous water-dwellers capable of pulling you to certain doom beneath the waves.
Kim Driver was out for a relaxing swim in the Winnipeg River when she felt a terrible pain shooting up her leg. Glancing down, Kim’s worst fears were confirmed.
The creature was part alligator, part fish, and all nightmare fuel! Muskies are native to the Great Lakes and rivers of North America, and they can swell to outrageous sizes, sometimes stretching up to a full six feet and weighing up to 50 pounds.
For context, that’s the size of your average bulldog! Kim was lucky; she was close enough to shore to escape the Muskellunge’s devilish grip, but she bears the scars of her wicked watery encounter to this day. Next time you’re out for a tranquil swim in a quiet Canadian river, remember to keep your wits about you.
You might just look like appealing prey to a vicious Muskellunge!
2. Needlefish
Next time you think you’re having a bad day, remember the wild tale of Muhammad Idul, an Indonesian teen who barely escaped death after being impaled by a Needlefish.
Muhammad was out for a routine day of fishing with his pops when the Needlefish inexplicitly leaped out of the water and skewered the 16-year-old’s head on its bony snout.
The freak accident made global headlines and is genuinely the stuff of maritime nightmares. Although Muhammad made a full recovery, we certainly won’t blame him if he’s a little gun shy of dipping his toes back into the water. The craziest part is; it could absolutely happen again- and probably will.
Needlefish get their name from a solid spike of a jaw, studded with tons of razor-sharp teeth. These fearsome fish are deadly athletes, too, capable of jumping out of the water at an astounding 37 miles per hour. Where will they land? Who knows!
3. Snakehead
If you ever find yourself in Southeast Asia, beware of the Snakehead fish. As the name suggests, this creature is part fish, part snake, and all attitude. It’s one of the crankiest fish in the world, and it stretches a full six feet long.
These giant brutes are freshwater dwellers, making them yet another reason to not take a refreshing dip in rivers or lakes in Thailand. They are also scary smart and love to wreak havoc everywhere they go. Their big brains make them apex predators, and they slaughter for sport as well as food, making them into one of the world’s only animal spree killers.
To kill, the Snakehead will use its unique form to contort itself into an S-shape before using the momentum to push it’s head forward for a death blow.
Since their mouths are full of rows of pointy teeth, prey don’t stand a chance at the fins of this fish! Fish aren’t the only targets of the sadistic Snakehead. Fishermen have gone toe to toe with this angry fish and have come away with their fair share of lumps, some even forfeiting their lives to the giant predator. Humans do get the last word, though, as these fish are a delicacy in Southeast Asia. Apparently, they taste just like chicken!
4. Lionfish
Watch out for this deadly beauty. The Lionfish is armed to the fins with some of the most vile venom imaginable, and they certainly are not afraid to use it. Prey don’t stand a chance against this pretty predator, capable of felling them with a single, toxic chomp.
Lionfish lurk all over the tropical oceans, and many humans have crossed paths with them near coral reefs or in the shallows. Although Lionfish aren’t necessarily aggressive, they can react violently when surprised, pumping their venom into anything or anyone that gets too close.
Lionfish venom isn’t necessarily deadly to humans, but it does hurt like hell to get stung, and you had better get out of the ocean quickly to avoid a nasty infection. Those who don’t go to the hospital right away are truly rolling the dice with their health.
Untreated Lionfish stings can lead to all sorts of cruel outcomes down the road, including paralysis or ongoing agony. Swim wisely!
5. Candiru
These fish are the stuff of nightmares, and we do not say that lightly. These tiny fish are only an inch long, maximum, but they prove that the scariest things in the world often come in the smallest packages.
Candiru are the scourge of the Amazon River, and the urban legends swirling around these fish are enough to make even the toughest person’s blood run ice cold.
What Candiru love most in the world are… your genitals. Yeah, That’s right. Be careful where you pee because a Candiru could be gunning right for you. They’re attracted to urine and famous for swimming up right to the source, which generally means lodging itself inside your urethra.
Once it’s there, Candiru don’t like to come out, and you will need to get to the closest Emergency Room pronto if you want to have any hope of saving your twig and berries! Wait too long, and the only solution is amputation! These feisty fish go by several names in their native South America, like toothpick fish or vampire fish, but we like to call them by a more appropriate name; the urine demon fiend of the Amazon!
6. Great Barracuda
Yes, Barracudas are technically fish, and these bad boys are certainly not known for their bedside manner. The Great Barracuda is known by the warm and fuzzy nickname “Tiger of the Sea,” and you can bet that it lives up to it a million percent.
This lengthy fish is one spine-chilling predator, capable of stalking prey through the depths and attacking when you least expect it, and they grow to crazy huge sizes.
These apex hunters swell to a staggering 100 pounds, which is the size of a baby hippo, or more accurately, a Hellfire Missile. You’d best believe that if you ever see one of these monsters hanging out in the open sea that you need to get the hell out of there. Not only are they huge, but they’re also territorial.
Scuba divers and snorkelers sometimes cross paths with these terrors, and some have lived to tell the tale. One such diver came eye to eye with a Great Barracuda on Australia’s barrier reef, turning a leisurely day of snorkeling into the fight of her life.
She described how the Great Barracuda covered seventy feet of ocean in mere seconds, racing towards her in a blur of teeth and sheer muscle.
She survived by poking the beast in the eyes and quickly making for the shore. Others were not so lucky.
7. Red-Bellied Piranha
Of all of the animals that lurk in the Amazon, Piranhas are some of the most fearsome. Red-Bellied Piranhas are especially vicious and can turn on a dime, becoming very aggressive and deadly to any fish, animals, or humans nearby. In 2015, tragedy struck in Brazil when a six-year-old girl was found partially consumed by the carnivorous fish.
The tragic story unfolded after a child’s canoe was overturned and she was lost to the river. Although Red-Bellied Piranhas usually can’t kill you… usually… they can inflict a powerfully nasty bite. What’s more, where there is one Piranha, there are almost always several, so you can certainly expect to be latched upon by many bloodthirsty little fish before you make your getaway- hopefully.
8. Stonefish
Proof that Australia produces some of the deadliest creatures on the planet, we give you the Stonefish. Unlike most venomous animals, this creature doesn’t let its freak flag of colors fly. Instead, it’s a master of disguise, melting into the surrounding sea and lying in wait until its prey happens to come floating by.
These creatures are absolutely horrifying. Not only can they very easily be mistaken for rocks or parts of a reef, but their venom is fatal to people.
If you get stung, you had better hope that you’re near a hospital. In the best-case scenario, you will only be in the worst pain of your life with a limb three times its normal size.
In the worst-case scenario- you’ll be dead. Stonefish venom is linked to paralysis and heart failure, causing your organs to shut down one by one in a nightmarish betrayal of your own body. The worst part? It will take you about an hour to die, making Stonefish venom one of the most sadistic things in the ocean blue.
9. Goonch Catfish
Also known as the “Kali River Goonch,” this ghoulish fish seems like the stuff of nightmares, but it’s as real as can be. The Goonch is a giant catfish who discovered a taste for human flesh and then started seeking it out, drowning and consuming unlucky victims during a twenty-year reign of terror.
Since the Kali River is used as a dumping site for bodies, it’s speculated that the enormous fish developed a keen taste for people.
The gristly Goonch Catfish is rumored to weigh 300 pounds or as much as a Giant Panda, and this watery executioner has precisely zero fear of people. It’s been rumored to attack both deep in the river and along the riverbanks, even pulling victims off the side of the banks to the horror of their onlooking families.
Many have tried to capture the elusive predator, but nobody has ever succeeded, and this bloodthirsty fish still trawls the river waiting to strike. Kali River or swim with starving Great White sharks? Let us know in the comments below.
