Piranhas Never Go in the Ocen Again

For the best part of three decades, biologist and angling enthusiast Jeremy Wade has been fascinated past the weird and wonderful creatures that lurk beneath the rivers of our world, and as presenter of the hugely popular River Monsters series on Animal Planet, he has brought viewers up close and personal with fish species that are normally only found in our nightmares. From gigantic stingrays and venomous species that can kill in an instant to the small-scale but equally creepy finds like the blood-sucking lamprey, it'south fair to say y'all won't notice any cuddly river dwellers on his take hold of listing!

Beyond a whopping ix seasons of River Monsters, fearless host Wade has traveled by car, boat and light aircraft, scouring the globe to reel in some of the largest and often, some of the deadliest freshwater fish known to man. If an paradigm can say a thousand words, so the ones you're nigh to run into might scream i affair to y'all: "never go near a river again!". While letting CNN Travel in on his tips for where to detect the strangest river beasts, the River Monsters host relived some of his near memorable catches. Accept a look at some of Wade's near incredible catches on the show (as well equally ten other creatures that have largely remained a mystery in angling circles – even to Wade!)

21 Queensland Grouper (Caught)

Anyone who'south watched presenter and angling fanatic Jeremy Wade in activity on River Monsters will know that some of the highlights of the show (and no incertitude for Wade himself) are the accidental catches along the way – and this is i he couldn't throw back in a hurry!

While on the lookout for bull sharks in Australia's Brisbane river, Wade instead stumbled beyond this gigantic animate being known as the Queensland Grouper. Groupers are the kind of fish that can alter their sex from female to male to allow the biggest and nearly dominant female of the grouping to go male. If but they could change into something a footling cuddlier?

20 Giant Stingray (Caught)

Forget the beautiful pocket-size-ish kind of stingrays you might see pond by you at the aquarium -this is the daddy of all stingrays – the Giant Stingray - and one which took Jeremy Wade virtually 4 hours to catch! While in Argentine republic in the Parana river, Wade ready his sights on this colossal creature.

Weighing in at a whopping 280 pounds, this alarming river creature was anything but an easy take hold of to haul in, every bit Wade will attest to: "At that place's no finesse to bringing in a stingray, you're just using very heavy gear and trying to intermission the suction that it has with the bottom."

nineteen African Balderdash Shark (Caught)

Officially Jeremy Wade's largest freshwater grab ever was the moment he grappled with the giant African balderdash shark. Proof positive that the River Monsters host is never one to shy away from a claiming, Wade persevered to catch this beast of the rivers – taking him 2 and a half hours but to reel it in with a fishing line.

The bull shark weighs in at almost 500 pounds and tin abound to reach a staggering ix feet in length! Wade and the team reeled this particular creature in from the Zambezi river, but they tin also be establish in both fresh and saltwater locations along the coast of Brazil and eastern Angola.

18 Yacumama (Mystery)

The mythical giant anaconda, or the "Yacumama" as its also known has long been the stuff of legends that have the tribespeople of South America terrified of its existence an has the scientific world curious as to whether a modern-twenty-four hour period prehistoric river creature really is in our midst.

Talk of the Yacumama can exist traced back to Aztec writings in United mexican states when it was known instead as "Quetzalcoatl" and featured in ancient carvings of a gigantic snake god devouring a homo. The closest real-life come across of the Yacumama was recounted by British explorer Percy Fawcett who claimed to have shot a "62-foot long anaconda" in the Amazon river in 1906. Over a century subsequently, there'due south still no sign of this river serpent - but give information technology time!

17 Sawfish (Caught)

These intimidating – and aptly named – sawfish used to be found quite extensively across the globe, but since they have become repeatedly tangled up in fishing nets, their worldwide numbers have declined pretty rapidly. Now, the sawfish is quite a rare sight, so nosotros can remainder a little easier!

River Monsters host Jeremy Wade, of course, was able to catch one while in Westward Australia. While it seems like a sizeable grab to us, Wade revealed that he had essentially only caught a juvenile sawfish! "This one was nearly seven feet long – it's believed they grow up to 20 feet long, but the adults are never actually seen".

16 Arapaima (Caught)

Although he may have made information technology expect easy, reeling some of the globe's largest freshwater fish wasn't always a straightforward job for the River Monsters host and i fish in particular almost made the catch seem impossible.

The Amazonian arapaima fish are known for their incredible strength and lightning speed, making them a dangerous one to reel in. Wade's first endeavor with an 80-pound arapaima didn't end so well: "I don't know if it was making a last bid for liberty or aiming at me, but information technology hit me in the sternum. I could all the same feel that afterward half-dozen weeks."

15 Goliath Tigerfish (Caught)

Host Wade reeled in this catch, which can only be found in an incredibly remote office of the Congo River – thank goodness for that! The Congo Tigerfish, also know as the "Goliath Tigerfish" is related to the Piranha equally you tin can probably tell. It's substantially a giant piranha, which Wade confirms can "grow to the size of a man". Nosotros don't know about you, but the Congo just got struck from our wanderlust listing!

Simply await, it gets more than nightmarish – The Goliath Tigerfish has something in common with one of our primary predators of the sea. "The tigerfish I defenseless on camera", revealed Wade, "had teeth the aforementioned length every bit those on a chiliad-pound slap-up white shark." Gulp.

14 The 'Montauk Monster' (Mystery)

This bizarre-looking creature known locally as the "Montauk monster" washed ashore on Long Island 10 years ago and to this solar day, no-one tin can seem to concur on what the animal's real identity is, nor why the carcass mysteriously disappeared shortly after making the rounds on the internet.

With its claws, leathery skin and nib, experts weighed in on what it could be from a raccoon to a bounding main turtle! William Wise of the Living Marine Resource Institute at Stony Beck University deemed it a "imitation" or otherwise a "diseased dog or coyote". There take been no other sightings of the "Montauk monster" since.

13 Electric Eel (Caught)

When you consider that the largest type of electric eel can deliver effectually 500 volts to you, this has got to exist one of the bravest wildlife photos ever taken! With 30 years experience under his belt, host Jeremy Wade and his River Monsters team took every possible precaution non to get zapped past this freshwater predator.

"We got the kind of people who work on ability lines", said Wade of the risky catch, "Thick rubber boots and gloves. Swe also took a defibrillator." Thankfully, the latter turned out to exist unnecessary, simply Wade and his team took extra caution after hearing about a local's expiry by an electric eel that wrapped tightly around the chest and delivered repeated shocks to the centre.

12 Nile Perch (Defenseless)

The title of largest freshwater fish in all of Africa belongs to the Nile Perch, and e'er the aggressive angler, Jeremy Wade defenseless the impressive creature in the second flavor of his River Monsters series. The Nile Perch reeled in by Wade weighed but over 100 pounds, but they can grow upward to as much every bit 250 pounds in weight.

By even attempting to catch the Perch, Wade put his life at take a chance, since Africa'south Rift valley which they inhabit is know equally the almost dangerous place to fish on the planet – storms can brew in an instant and giant crocs and hippos that tin can maul you to death are waiting beneath!

11 Goonch Catfish (Defenseless)

The gargantuan Goonch Catfish caught in the foothills of the Himalayas is a strange specimen indeed. Non only is the sheer size of this creature pretty intimidating, but this fish was also responsible for a few cases of disappearances in the expanse, so you lot know this river monster is equally equally powerful as it looks!

Before heading out to Republic of india in search of the Goonch, Jeremy Wade had heard stories of people "being pulled nether the h2o". Knowing that there were no crocodiles, pythons or bull sharks in the area, Wade decided the Goonch was the likely culprit: "The water'south very dingy, so they tend to grab whatever's in front of their confront." Yikes!

ten Sea Mouse (Mystery)

At first glance, this may look like an exotic species of caterpillar or an overturned porcupine, but this strange beast is far rarer – a sea mouse. The sea mouse is a rare sight in marine life circles since information technology unremarkably inhabits depths of three,000 meters beneath body of water level in the North Atlantic, the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean.

This 1 was instead found washed upwards on Crosby beach in Liverpool. Though possibly too small in appearance to qualify as a river or sea "monster", the ocean mouse is, in fact, predatory and lies in wait, burying itself in the sand earlier preying on small crabs and worms.

9 Marbled Eel (Caught)

Jeremy Wade fought difficult to take hold of this monstrous eel in the nighttime while on a night shoot in Fiji. Afterward wrestling to become the nearly 5-foot long beast into the net, Wade observed its sharp rows of teeth, and this quickly confirmed what the local villagers had feared in relation to people being injured by the Marbled eel's bite.

"There were stories almost these mythic beasts grabbing people", Wade explained, "but the reason a lot of fish do that is that they don't know they're grabbing a person. If the visibility is poor in the water, they assume a small fish is in front of their face."

viii Alligator Gar (Defenseless)

River Monsters host Wade refers to the creepy looking Alligator Gar as a "prehistoric beast". No kidding. These bizarre creatures accept actually been inhabiting rivers since the Jurassic catamenia, and attributable to their oddly long snout of unforgivingly sharp teeth, they're even thought to be more unsafe than sharks!

While traveling along the Trinity River in Texas, Wade caught this 123-pound Gar and during the grade of filming the catch, Wade himself actually suffered a seize with teeth and drew blood. Considering that some Alligator Bloke can abound to as large as 300 pounds, Wade was lucky to wrestle with this i and come away – relatively – unharmed.

seven Behemothic Oarfish (Spotted)

The magnificent giant oarfish are very rarely seen, but of course, Jeremy Wade was lucky plenty to come face up to face with the elusive creature. While he may not have taken the opportunity to "grab" it similar his other river monsters, Wade was happy enough to just run into the eleven meter-long "messenger of the sea."

Despite spending three decades pursuing some of the rarest and strangest marine life out there, the River Monsters host was still beguiled past the Oarfish, admitting: "Here was a fish I never thought I would run across in my lifetime." adding, "If it hadn't been on film, I'd probably be thinking 'Did that actually happen or did I just imagine it?"

6 Ganges River Shark (Mystery)

Marine scientists have scoured the freshwater rivers of Republic of india for more than than 20 years on the sentry for this incredibly rare species of shark. The Ganges river shark is then rarely spotted that experts had all but given upward and believed them to exist extinct already – up until one was spotted in a fish market in Mumbai earlier this twelvemonth.

Speaking to New Scientist, Rima Jabado, founder of a shark research and conservation organisation in the United Emirates, revealed that the Ganges shark is "a species that's never really been seen in the western Indian bounding main." Sadly since no samples were taken of the shark before it was sold to market, the mysteries of the Ganges river shark still remain largely unsolved.

5 Piraiba Catfish (Caught)

Over the course of 9 serial of River Monsters, Jeremy Wade came across many species of catfish, but the largest catch of all was the Piraiba catfish of the Amazon. Wade reeled in this dazzler which tin can exist found in the basins of the Amazon river and is thought to exist one of the virtually beautiful of their kind.

It was certainly a thrill for Wade to catch, admitting "This is the one I wanted, the Paraiba, the existent monster of the Amazon! He continued, "This is the fish that people say when it gets big enough, it goes subsequently people besides!."

4 Kaluga Sturgeon (Caught)

Sturgeon aren't normally aggressive or particularly predatory, but the Kaluga species of sturgeon, otherwise known as the "river beluga" is in a whole other ballpark. Kaluga sturgeon are idea to exist the largest freshwater fish on the planet – able to reach a maximum length of around 18ft and can weigh upwards as much as one,000kg!

Jeremy Wade reeled in a smaller but withal intimidating Kaluga while out on the Amur river in East Russian federation. Wade noted how much their oral fissure differs from a regular sturgeon: "A normal sturgeon mouth is just a tube that sucks things off the bottom, merely a (Kaluga'due south) oral fissure extends forwards, like a catfish."

3 Lamprey (Caught)

This might be the smallest river monster on Jeremy Wade's grab listing, just if these creatures ever latch on to you, you'll know about it, as they pack a considerable punch of pain in cocky-defense! The lamprey Wade plant were discovered on the border between New York and Vermont, in Lake Champlain, and ever the adventurous angler – Wade tested the lamprey'southward suction power for himself!

I had one stuck to my neck to experience what it was like. Information technology'due south a very potent suction, and if you wait a couple of seconds, the teeth will start to penetrate." Ouch. "The lamprey's tongue has teeth on it equally well." Nope!

2 Golden Dorado (Caught)

To spot one of these gilded giants shimmering beneath your angling boat, you could be forgiven for thinking you'd stumbled upon bars and bars of the real thing. The colossal Gilded Dorado gleams similar the mythical urban center of El Dorado it's named after and is one of the most prized species of freshwater fish in the world.

While in the Rio de la Plata river betwixt Argentina and Uruguay, the River Monsters host reeled in the Aureate Dorado by accident! While on the hunt for a short-tailed river stingray, Wade hooked this 43-pound beast. As pretty and shimmery as they look, these things have been known to sever limbs!

At that place's A Reason Why This Swiss Boondocks Is Called Top Of The World