River Monsters (2009–2017): Season 1, Episode 6 - Amazon Flesh Eaters - full transcript

The Amazon River

is known for containing an evil
collection of murderous beasts.

But there's one
family of fish living here

that could write a
serial killer's handbook,

their methods are so
bloodthirsty and varied.

I can see from here the way

they are just literally
drilling their way into that fish.

Members of the catfish family

have reportedly
swallowed people whole.

They've eaten them
alive from within,

and even gruesomely
penetrated individuals



in the most intimate of places.

- I'm Jeremy Wade...
- Fish on!

Biologist and extreme angler.

And I'm on the hunt
for these killer catfish

to determine if this family

are the Amazon's
ultimate river monsters.

Now, imagine that in an orifice.

In the heart of the
Brazilian Amazon,

a truck makes a solemn path

towards the local
police station.

It carries a macabre load.

The corpse of a man.

But the circumstances
of his death

were bizarre in the extreme.



Fearing accusations of murder,

the fishermen have taken
the corpse to the police station

in the exact state in
which they found it.

Just a pair of legs

protruding from the
mouth of a vast catfish.

Could this wild tale emerging
from the Amazon really be true?

Or is this just a
made-up fisherman's tale,

and no more real than
this photo re-creation

of what it might
have looked like?

I've faced many of the largest

and most feared creatures
in the waterways of this world.

And I've discovered that you
don't need to swim in the sea

to encounter a man-eater.

Rivers harbor just
as many monsters.

Ask people what is the most
feared fish in the Amazon,

and they'll undoubtedly
say piranha,

electric eel, or even stingray.

But I've come to Brazil
to find out if catfish

are actually the
worst of the lot,

a true Mafia-style
family of killers at large.

And I've tracked
down Sil Val Mir,

one of the witnesses
to this bizarre murder,

to hear his story.

Basically, there's
a bit of a frenzy

of fishing activity going on.

One of the nets
got stuck on a rock,

and in that situation,
the only thing you can do,

if you're not gonna rip the net,

you've got to go
down and get it off.

So this one fisherman
dived in to free the net.

However, what happened
was that he didn't come up.

The net came up. No
fish in it, no fisherman.

Nothing more was seen
until about four hours later,

when suddenly, this huge
fish appeared on the surface,

and it was thrashing
around because the fish

was actually itself in
trouble, actually choking.

The fisherman was actually
half inside the mouth of the fish,

just the legs of the
fisherman sticking out.

And what happened then
was that the fishermen all went

to try and get
the fish to net it,

and he said because it
was obviously quite tired,

it was quite easy, just one net.

They got it in and
clubbed it to death.

They left his body
inside the fish

and then went to Manaus
as fast as possible.

Obviously, you know,
get it to the police station

to make sure that
there's no suspicion

that it was a case of
murder or anything like that.

The murderer was
identified as a piraíba,

the largest species of catfish
found here in the Amazon.

So that fish could have
been about 500 pounds.

I mean, we are talking

some seriously,
seriously big fish here.

The mouth... About
40 centimeters across.

That's a couple of foot across.

But he says it opens up more,
so sort of maybe 2 1/2 foot.

This was a pretty monstrous fish

and a pretty horrific end
for that particular fisherman.

He says there are people
disappearing all the time,

and you never
find a trace of them.

You don't find the body.

You don't find bones.
You don't find anything.

Even having heard this
horrific story from an eyewitness,

someone who was actually there,

seeing this monstrous
fish with the fisherman's feet

just poking out of the mouth,

I still find it really
hard to believe

that there are fish here
capable of doing that.

And what I want to do is
actually see with my own eyes

how big the fish are
in these Amazon rivers.

I think the first
thing I've got to do

is go back to where
this story all started

and actually go myself
to the scene of the crime.

Val Mir talked of seeing
a 500-pound piraíba,

which seems extreme,

but photos do exist of
some pretty large catfish.

There are three
species of giant catfish

found here in the Amazon.

The jaú.

The red-tailed catfish.

And the piraíba.

This catch was reported
to be nearly 8 foot long

and some 350 pounds.

But maybe, as Val Mir suggests,

there are even bigger
monsters out there,

and if I follow his leads,

perhaps I'll get to catch
a man-eater of my own.

After traveling for 12
hours, I reach my destination,

a river junction up a
tributary of the Amazon.

As far as I can gather, this
is the scene of the crime.

And what's interesting

is this is a very obvious
meeting of the waters.

You can see it so clearly

because the two rivers that
meet here are different colors.

One is muddy white
water. One is black water.

According to the locals,

large catfish wait in ambush
at river junctions like this

to predate on smaller
fish traveling downriver.

Because I'm after a
pretty monstrous fish,

I'm using monstrous tackle.

I've got a huge
forged-steel hook on the end,

attached to a length of wire,

and then I've got about
300 yards of very strong line.

Okay.

And this rod, you'd normally
only see this on a boat

out in the open ocean,
the kind of thing you'd use

to catch marlin,
tuna, that kind of thing.

But I'm using this
stuff in freshwater.

People only think of
predatory fish living in the sea,

but here I am about
1,000 miles from the ocean,

staking out a crime
scene to catch a man-eater.

Something down there
just grabbed the bait,

bent the rod, and then let go.

That's a fish on.
That's a fish on.

It's taking line.

Taking line, taking...

Feels pretty sizeable.

We'll be a little bit
decisive and brutal now.

The fish doesn't want to know
that, doesn't want to know.

Going down.

The fish is coming up in
the water, up in the water.

There it is.

It's a jaú. It's a good size.

This fish is not the
piraíba I was hoping for,

but the jaú is a catfish,

and some fishermen claim
it can be just as dangerous

as the larger piraíba.

But it's not finished.

It doesn't like the
size of the boat at all.

It has a reputation for being
so strong on the end of a line

that some people will tell you

that it has dragged fishermen
down into the depths.

This is about 80
pounds. 80, 90 pounds.

It's a good-sized fish.
The hook hold looks good.

Might even be able
to land it on land.

After 20 minutes
of hard struggle,

I have the better of it.

And, my goodness, feeling
the strength of this thing,

I wouldn't want
that 'round my ankle,

or, you know, I wouldn't
want to be headfirst

down the mouth of
something like that, either.

There we go.

It looks a really sinister
fish, that dark black color,

and it gets that from...

It gets that from living
down in the lightless zone,

you know, deep
in the rocky pools,

where it just blends
in with the background.

And particularly looking at it
from here, just the shape of it,

you know, it's a great
big mouth, large head,

very muscular midriff,
and then just tapering off

into this very chunky,
powerful propulsion unit.

Just looking at
these long whiskers

that they use to probe
their surroundings,

it's pretty obvious where
catfish get their name.

So this is a real...
You know, this is a fish

that's adapted for strong
water, very strong fish.

And if one of those
was to grab you...

there's not a great deal
you could do about it.

Time to release this animal.

So the scene of the
crime may not have yielded

the man-eating
piraíba I was after,

but this impressive jaú

shows that there are some
large catfish down there.

Oh, wanting to go already.
Wanting to go already.

That's good.

That's good. There it goes.

Ooh.

Quite a fish.

If I can get a big catfish here
at this minor river junction,

then perhaps if I fish

the largest river
junction in the world...

The meeting of the
waters near Manaus...

I'll land the mother
of all catfish.

I'm on a mission to
hook the largest catfish

in the Amazon, the piraíba,
'cause I want to prove

that the stories of them
swallowing fishermen

are more than just
fishermen's tales.

And after catching a
large jaú at a river junction,

I think I know just the
place to catch a monster.

This is it. This is the
meeting of the waters.

This is the black water of the
Rio Negro coming down here,

mixing with the white, muddy
water of the Rio Solimoes.

And together, they
form the mighty Amazon.

And this has to be

probably the biggest
river junction in the world,

and everybody says
that the big catfish,

they love river junctions, so
this place has to be a good bet

for the mother of all catfish.

The point where
these two rivers meet

is more than a mile wide,
over 200 feet deep in places.

And for almost
another four miles,

these two massive
waterways refuse to merge,

due to their different
speeds, temperatures,

and sediment contents.

Julio Cavalcanche has
caught a 211-pound piraíba

at the meeting of the waters.

But on another occasion,
he nearly died here

when the line wrapped
around his body

and started to pull
him out of the boat.

He had to cut himself
free with this very knife.

Julio credits his
fishing success

to a secret bait formula
that he wraps around a hook,

seals in a tin can,

and leaves to bake in
the sun for three days.

Ooh.

Oh, dear.

Ugh.

I think most of
the fish in this river

are gonna know
that stuff is in there.

- Look here.
- Right.

That...

Mm.

That just looks so...

Ugh.

I've never seen
anything quite like that.

Right. The fish like it.

The fish like it.

This is the guts, the
by-products, of eight chickens.

So the entire
intestines of one chicken

is about that long,
wound 'round,

and you've got eight entire
intestinal tracts of chickens

to make up that bait.

I think with this now, I have
to be ready to go fishing.

Julio reckons that once
the sun sets and night falls,

the catfish come out to feed.

That's the bait on a huge hook.

Lump of lead to keep it down.

I'll feed this over the side.
I've got 30 foot of iron cable.

Feels good. The monsters
could be on the move.

How's this for float fishing?
I've got a barrel on here.

I mean, this is a "Jaws"
moment if ever there was one.

The bait's out.
The engine's cut.

It's now just a
case of being quiet

and just drifting
down with the current.

But being out here after
dark also increases the risks.

Here, you've not only got
a very, very powerful fish

that might hang on
the end of the line,

you've also got to keep
an eye out for the weather,

and also, this is a very,
very busy waterway.

There's gonna be boats,
big barges, all sorts of stuff.

And they'll just run you over
if you give them a chance.

And 30 foot below
all that is my bait.

The water underneath
me could be 200 feet deep.

But the piraíba,

whose name means
"mother of all the fishes,"

is totally at home here.

With a lightning-conducting
rod in my hands,

I'm easily the highest point
in this wide stretch of river.

So I decide to call it a day

before that storm
gets any closer.

Ah.

Well, nothing... Nothing
came for that bait.

And I don't know.
Maybe I can't blame them.

Either it's just not my night

or the fact that it is
so close to a big city

means that the fish
have all been fished out.

There is a huge fishing
fleet operating from Manaus,

and this is right
on the doorstep.

Perhaps, you know, I need to
go further away from civilization

if I'm to get the
mother of all the catfish.

I head into the dark
heart of the Amazon

up a distant tributary
of the main river

to see if that tactic
changes my luck.

Maybe here I'll catch
my man-eating piraíba.

Head down, head down, head
down, head down, head down!

Argh!

Fish on!

Could this be the
river monster I'm after?

But who'll win this
battle, me or the fish?

I'm here in the Amazon,

investigating a
family of killer catfish.

It's taking line. It's
a strong fish, this.

And I think I've
hooked a piraíba...

Gonna come 'round,
gonna come 'round.

The largest catfish
species found here.

This is a good-sized fish.

I haven't seen it yet.

Look at that!

That is actually
not the fish I want.

That is a huge
red-tailed catfish.

I want the white
streamlined, sharklike piraíba.

But this thing, my
goodness, this is a good size.

This is a very good size.

Oh!

Now that this
fish is in the boat,

it is pumping air, not
water, over its gills,

creating these strange sounds.

That is a big old catfish.

And it's getting me in
training for the piraíba.

The only thing is, too many
more experiences like this one,

and I just won't have any energy

for a fish that's
bigger than this.

And, I mean, this thing is just
a huge head, huge, bony head,

tapering off into
this leathery body,

and a great big,
wide mouth there.

Without any teeth, as such,

but it's got real
good grasping pads.

Unlike a shark that
can bite its prey in half,

catfish have to
swallow it whole.

So if they are overly
ambitious, they will choke.

But this fish has a
different problem.

Inside its mouth is a
parasitic bloodsucker.

Another one here.

And that is absolutely engorged,
absolutely engorged with blood,

the blood of this poor catfish.

This tiny parasite, the
candiru, and this vast predator

are both from the
Mafia-like family of catfish.

This is pretty disgusting.

I don't know if I
can get hold of it

'cause they're very slippery.

Need more fingernails.
Okay, there we go.

So there we go.
Before and after.

This one's fed.

This one's still
lean and hungry.

And as I'll find out,

it's these small guys
you have to watch out for,

as this parasite is one of
the cruelest catfish I'll meet.

There we go.

Okay.

That was nice to catch that.

Not the fish I want,

but, you know, that's a
real monster in its own right.

The candiru usually
targets a big fish as its host,

drinking blood from its gills.

But occasionally,
they make mistakes.

This has resulted in one of
the most infamous legends

ever to emerge from the Amazon.

A man urinating in the river

who has a fish
swim up his penis.

Yet for one gentleman, this
urban myth became reality.

Luckily, he was able to make
it to this surgery in Manaus,

where he was treated
by Dr. Anoar Samad.

He'd actually had this fish
inside him for four days,

and the reason there
was such a delay

was because he
actually lived a long way

in the interior,
away from the city.

He had a very,
very swollen bladder.

He was bleeding, general
fever, swollen testicles,

generally in a very bad way.

The fish wasn't visible.

It's got these little sort
of spines on the gill flaps,

so it was almost, like,
working its way in like that.

It would have swum
as far as the sphincter,

at which point, the fish
was apparently trying

to sort of, you know,
gnaw its way out.

It was actually instead of
just swimming up the urethra,

it was actually
starting to gnaw.

So this guy, obviously,
was in a lot of pain.

What was done first of
all was that the endoscope

was put in the end of
his penis into the urethra.

The endoscope was
equipped with a camera,

and this is the actual
footage from that operation.

They were expecting
to find a little fish.

What they found instead

was something that went almost
from the entrance of the urethra

all the way back
to the sphincter.

They're talking about
something five or six inches.

So, not exactly a little fish.

Quite a substantial animal.

Candiru locate their hosts

by following the
trail of dilute urea

that fish excrete
from their gills.

This could explain
this candiru's mistake.

I go in search of
its unfortunate victim

to re-introduce him
to the actual fish

that swam up his urine stream.

Having heard a horrific account

of a fish entering
a man's penis,

I managed not only to
track down the victim,

but I take him back

to the actual scene of
the assault on his manhood

to relive the events

that have haunted
him since that day.

Okay, so it's 11 years ago.

It's in this very spot.

Silvio and some friends
were in the water down there.

And after a little
period of time,

Silvio, you know, felt the
need to urinate, as happens.

He knew the story
about the candiru,

so he actually took himself
partially out of the water.

While he was relieving himself,
suddenly he had a shock.

And the first thing he knew

was that the fish was
already, you know, inside.

Only just the end
of its tail was out.

Tried to grab hold of it,
but it's a very smooth fish,

a bit like a bar of soap.

No good. No
success pulling it out.

So basically just
ran up onto the bank

to try and get some help.

I decide to throw a net out

to see if I can catch
one of these critters.

Here we go.

This is almost exactly
what Silvio described.

You know, something
going in one direction

and just not wanting to
come into reverse at all.

Look at that.

I can actually feel its spines
digging in when it does that.

It was actually
walking using its head.

Now, imagine that in an orifice.

This fish is just leaking
blood. It's not this fish's blood.

It's something it's
been feeding on.

And it is just an
absolute nightmare,

a real sort of vampire
fish, this thing.

A fish like this may
have entered Silvio

in search of a blood meal,

but little did it know
that its mistake

would result in an
unprecedented medical procedure

lasting two hours.

The first thought was to...

A bit like a hook
that's got a barb on it.

Actually pulling it
back the way it went in

is not always a good idea.

He was thinking of actually
sort of coming in from the side,

coming in from the perineum

and actually trying to sort
of pull the fish out headfirst,

but he thought because it had
been such a long time in there,

they would actually...

And also, the fish was
starting to rot a bit...

Maybe try and pull it
out with the endoscope.

You know, out tailfirst
the way that it went in.

The tail of the fish was
about here, about an inch in.

And so the head of it would
have been somewhere like here.

And then what happened
was that the pincers

were gradually manipulated
out of the hole here.

There we go.

Grabbed hold of the
fish just in front of the tail

using the camera,

and then the whole apparatus
just gradually, gradually,

very delicately moved out.

Apparently, it was necessary

to pull with a certain
amount of force,

but feeling that it's
not doing any damage.

And fortunately, you know,
it did come out eventually.

The fish was sent

to the National Institute
of Amazonian Research

to be formally identified,

thus confirming, after
centuries of speculation,

that a fish has entered a human
in the most intimate of places.

This is a somewhat momentous
and possibly delicate occasion.

I'm bringing Silvio
back to meet his fish.

This one.

Silvio...

This is actually the first
time since he had the surgery

that Silvio has seen
this fish, this very fish.

I just asked Silvio if he
would like to handle it,

and a very definite, "No,
I think once was enough."

So maybe if I
leave it in my hand.

But I'm quite struck
by how large it is.

Now, he's looking
at it now, thinking,

"I didn't realize
it was that big.

I thought it was smaller."

It really does sort
of beggar belief

that something of that
size could burrow into you.

So is the candiru the worst
of all the fish in the Amazon?

A catfish of such
vile reputation

that none can surpass it?

Dr. Lucia Rapp, the
curator of the collection here,

wants to show me
another catfish species

that is potentially
even more horrific

than the bloodsucking candiru.

So what was the case
that you heard about?

We had a situation
here recently.

We received a visit of a doctor.

He came with some images
of two corpses, two men.

He believed that they were shot

because they have those
very round holes on the body.

He started to
dissect the corpse.

He saw it was not gunshots.

The corpses were hollow
already inside, without any organs.

Wow. I'm just trying to
imagine being a pathologist

and you're brought a corpse.

There's what looks
like bullet holes.

You start to dissect the
body, and the body is hollow.

The organs have been removed.

And there wasn't
any kind of bullet

or something inside the
corpses, just the fishes.

So he realized that the
fishes got inside the bodies

and eaten the organs inside.

The fish was identified
as a close catfish relative

of the bloodsucking candiru
called the candiru-açú.

Would they have been
dead when the fish got in?

Well, they suspected the
men might be eaten alive,

because he saw the
structure of the flesh,

and they were
eaten from the inside.

And they probably
died from that.

Not gonna be alive for
long with all that going on.

Yeah, that's for sure.

If you are alive,
if you feel the fish,

you can just remove it.

But if you are, for example,
drunk or ill or something,

you may not have enough
strength to resist them.

Imagine a whole bunch of
these fishes attacking you at once.

Not a very pleasant thought

if you're going for a
little swim in the Amazon.

Having heard this gruesome tale,

I decide to visit
the city morgue

to see if I can track
down any more details.

I think it's all very well

having a certain
scientific curiosity

about some of these
bizarre and gruesome deaths.

But actually seeing the
people waiting outside here

who have come,
basically, to identify bodies,

you know, it becomes
much more personal,

and I'm not, to be
honest, totally prepared

for what I'm gonna sort of
hear or even see in there.

A little bit sort of uneasy
and uncomfortable about it.

But...

Yeah, time to go, anyway.

I've come to the Manaus morgue

to investigate an incident

where a human was eaten
from within by a catfish.

Dr. Elizabeth Bezerra has
dealt with several cases like this.

She was the first pathologist

to recognize this
bizarre behavior

and present it to
the outside world.

Apparently, Mondays
are the worst days

for bodies coming
in in this state.

People go out, picnics,
having a drink on the weekend.

They fall in the
water, they disappear,

and then Mondays, the
bodies come to the surface.

So, I mean, it sounds like...

We're not just talking
about one or two animals.

The most that Dr. Elizabeth

has actually taken from
a corpse, or found inside,

is more than 100 of these fish.

So these fish are
sort of purpose-built

for the task, it appears.

Cylindrical body,
very smooth and slimy,

and then they have this
mouth that when it opens,

it produces a circular bite.

These are actual
photographs from the morgue

that show the
gunshot-wound-like holes,

and in some cases,

the fish still inside
the human corpse.

The body is literally
eaten from the inside.

Just the bones and
some skin remain.

So it's, you know, really quite
a horrifying thing to visualize.

Unlike the harmless
catfish of the U.S.,

Amazon catfish are proving to be

a diverse group
of gruesome killers.

And having heard
this grisly story,

I'm strangely drawn
to this macabre fish.

I'm keen to see a
live one in action.

But I don't think I'll be using
a human corpse as bait.

The thought of maybe
more than 100 of these

boring into a human body...

I mean, they really are
flesh-eating monsters.

It's not often you use a
big fish to catch a small fish.

But after just two hours,
it's definitely worked.

Oh, whoa, whoa,
whoa. What was that?

What was that? Oh.

I don't know the scientific name

for all the scavengers
at this gruesome picnic.

The locals call these
musun, or snakefish.

There's actually something
a bit different in there.

If I can get it out.

I don't really want to
shove my hand in there.

There, there, there, there,
there, there, there, there.

Just hold him.

There we go.

So this is the candiru-açú.

This is the fish that
bores holes in the body

and then devours
from the inside out.

And it was this fish
that they retrieved

from those corpses
in the morgue.

This was a heavy
fish when it went in.

Nothing left inside.

In fact, if I just rip
it open a little bit.

The candiru-açú
makes no distinction

between human flesh
and that of any other animal

floating in the Amazon.

Just like a hollow case of skin

with the remnants
of the bone inside.

This is almost exactly

what the autopsy
report was in the morgue,

except in that case, we were
talking about a human being.

This water is obviously
filled with flesh-eaters,

so I try and entice them
to feed out of my hand.

I'm actually just on
somebody's house here.

And I'm just dangling
this fish off the side,

and these candiru are just
attacking right on the surface.

And I can see from here
the way they are just literally

drilling their
way into that fish.

It's like a
crocodile death roll,

and no doubt the cause of
the gunshot-like entry holes

in the corpses.

I might try and lift
them out, actually.

Look at that. Hey,
there's one there.

Back in the water.

Apparently, these things will
give you a bite like a piranha.

Look at that. That's
very, very definite cut.

And this is all the
work of the candiru.

The Amazon River is
a scavenger's paradise.

It's like an acid bath
here for corpses.

And again, it's members
of the catfish family

that are one of the
principal operators,

cleaning up the bodies.

But as I continue my quest,

I witness an astounding
act of cannibalism.

Good grief!

And finally track
down my river monster.

That's a piraíba!
It's a piraíba!

I've seen that here
in the Amazon,

small catfish have
a frightening ability

to attack us
where it hurts most,

and also to dispose
of our bodies.

But what about
the large catfish?

I started this quest with
a tale of a man-eater.

Can they really swallow
something as big as themselves?

I need to resume my hunt

for the biggest catfish in
the Amazon, the piraíba.

But no sooner have
I cast into the water

when my fishing guide, Flavio,
spots a truly graphic example

of overambitious
Amazon predation.

Oh, louco!

Something that
immediately reminds me

of the man
half-swallowed by a fish.

We've just seen this payara
floating down the river,

quite a big one, still alive.

We thought it was
dead to start with.

On investigation, it's got
another one down its throat.

And Flavio's just grabbing
hold of the tail and pulling it out.

Here we go. Look at it.
It's the tail of another fish.

So this fish almost
choked to death

on something just, you
know, too big to swallow, really.

If we can get the other
fish out, it might survive.

But as it is...

Good grief!

Size of that.

Look at that!

Just look at that.

Good grief!

Look at the size of the fish
that that other fish swallowed.

That's the meal, the one that's
looking slightly worse for wear.

And this is the greedy
one that swallowed it,

which might now recover.

This remarkable
act of cannibalism

is just as ambitious

as the catfish that
tried to swallow a man.

Maybe in these murky waters,

accidentally biting off
more than you can chew

is a common occurrence.

Oh, louco.

Reinvigorated by
this chance encounter,

I'm back on my quest in earnest.

Oh.

Just trying a
different spot here.

Got a rapid at the top there,

and then there's a deep
hole with a clean bottom.

And this is a particular
place for piraíba.

I've had a few fish recently
that have taken the bait,

and I just haven't hooked
up, or they've come off.

Come on!

Oh

It's come off.

I'm trying something
a little bit clever.

I'm putting a double-hook rig on

so that the idea is it doesn't
have to take the entire bait.

Even if it just nips the
tail of it or the body of it,

I should hook up,
get a good hook hold.

Okay.

Off the front of the boat.

Something down there
just grabbed the bait,

bent the rod, and then let go.

Ugh! That is a fish on.

I think it's coming towards me.

What I don't want is the
hook to come out like...

it has been doing.

Feels strange.

There are people
who hook these fish,

and they're
literally on for hours.

And it gets dark, and they
give up and cut the line.

I've come far
too far to give up,

so even though my muscles
are aching, I carry on.

It has a very fast
sort of pulsing to it.

It's not a throb,
throb, throb, throb.

This is a big fish I can
only bully to a certain extent.

Strong, strong,
strong fish. Strong fish.

Strong fish.

After a struggle of
nearly half an hour,

I have the better of it.

There it is! There's
the fish! There's the fish!

There's the fish!

Piraíba. It's a piraíba!

Ah!

Here we go.

This is the one I wanted.

This is the piraíba, the
real monster of the Amazon.

The fish is growling at me.

Oh.

Big old mouth on there.

Heavy, heavy fish. I
can hardly hold this up.

My arms are pretty shot anyway.

I can feel the fish
flexing. It's about to kick.

Whoa! Oops.

And this is the one
that people say,

when it gets big enough, it
goes after people, as well.

Looks a bit like a shark, and
it has a reputation to match.

This is a big one.

But they do go bigger.
They do go bigger.

This one, I don't know,
possibly about 80 pounds.

You know, this is
a man-sized fish.

But they go bigger
than man-sized.

They go a size big
enough to swallow a man.

And a streamlined fish.

Smooth skin, no scales.

But it's a very
streamlined catfish.

Most catfish are pretty slobby.

They mope around
on muddy bottoms.

But this is a fish
of fairly fast current,

and I can just feel
that muscle flexing.

That's a lovely, lovely result.

And am I tired, am I tired.

What I've got to do, though,

is remember that the
fish is as tired as I am.

So although I want to
admire it out of the water,

I've got to get it back

and think of the fish's
recovery, as well.

Oh.

Oh.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Oh.

And he's gone.

What a river monster.

In my investigation,

I've seen how, in
these murky waters,

catfish sometimes make mistakes.

I've seen how catfish
make no distinction

between human and other flesh.

And I've seen firsthand
how in the Amazon,

fish will bite off more
than they can chew.

So if you combine these findings

and imagine this piraíba
three times the size,

still well within the
maximum recorded weight,

then just ask yourself,
are those accounts

of fish swallowing people
just fishermen's tales?

I came here in search
of a man-eating fish.

But instead, I found a
Mafia-like family of killers

that are surely the Amazon's

most frightening river monsters.

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