China Controls Spread of Man-eating Fish

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, December 17, 2002

China Controls Spread of Man-eating Fish

The deadly man-eating piranha fish has appeared in China and officials are working hard to control its menace.

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The deadly man-eating piranha fish has appeared in China and officials are working hard to control its menace.

The Ministry of Agriculture has put together regulations on how to deal with the fish.

Although the piranha has a gentle appearance, it is on the top of list "most dangerous aquatic species" in the Amazon region of Brazil. Experts said that about 1,200 head of cattle are killed every year in Brazil by the deadly fish.

Piranha flock to their target and strip it of all its flesh in no time at all, said Ma Weijun, an expert with the Ministry of Agriculture.

Even children playing in the river and women washing clothes bythe river may be victims of the dangerous fish.

The fish has recently appeared at some pet markets in China, where it was snapped up in cities such as Guangzhou, Nanning, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Shenyang, according to the paper. The sales of the fish started in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The fish was introduced as a new visitor attraction into an ocean amusement park in Nanning, capital of Guangxi.

Up to now, all of the cities involved have launched campaigns to fight against the spread of the fish.

According to investigation by the agricultural administration department, most of the piranha on sale in China are from an agricultural trading market named Qingping, in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province.

How the piranha was first introduced into China and in what wayit became popular in domestic markets remain unclear.

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