Freakish fish with human-like gnashers have earned the the fearsome nicknames of 'testicle eaters', 'nut crackers' and 'ball cutters'.
Due to their impressive set of teeth, the pacu fish chomp is powerful enough to leave blokes taking a dip in some parts of the world fearing an unwanted castration.
Sheepshead fish also look like they are swimming with dentures in with even more rows for chewing but it is the pacu, native to South America which boasts such a chilling reputation.
Despite its natural habitat being in the waters of a distant continent, sightings in Denmark and even Seine river in Paris, France over the past decade have put Brits on alert.
As they are legal to own as pets it has been feared that pranksters would decide to release them into the likes of reservoirs, lakes and rivers across the UK to give wild swimmers a nasty surprise.
Fortunately though there have been no reports of Brits suffering the painful fate of the pacu's powerful bite which unlike flesh-hungry piranha, is designed to crack into seeds and nuts that drop from trees into the water.
Their sinister nickname does in fact not come from a desire to feast on human testicles but rather a case of mistaken identity as genitalia is confused for fallen nuts.
Jack Heathcote who owns Britain's largest privately owned aquarium, owned a trio of pacu until one which at five stone weighed the same as a labrador, died aged 16.
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His three foot-long black pacu was probably the largest of the species in captivity but the title of the oldest goes to 'Buttkiss' in a New York pet shop which is claimed to be at least 43-years-old.
Jack admitted he fed his pacu an unorthodox diet which included sausages and even fluorescent light tubes.
Jack who owns 400 fish in his £20,000 aquarium said at the time: "I was so glad he died in a way, as now I don’t feel I ever failed him."
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