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New York man pleads guilty to smuggling nearly 40,000 piranhas into the U.S. (CNN) -- New York City resident Joel Rakower bit off more than he could chew when he smuggled nearly 40,000 piranhas into the United States. Rakower pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn to smuggling the deadly piranhas from 2011 to 2012, according to a U.S. Department of Justice statement. The federal Lacey Act combats trafficking in "illegal" wildlife, fish and plants. In a plea agreement, Rakower admitted that his company purchased piranhas from a Hong Kong tropical fish supplier and imported them to the city,...

Angler nabs ‘vegetarian’ piranha SEATTLE — Angler John Denton was surprised to catch what he believes to be a pacu, a relative of the piranha at Lake Ki over the weekend. According to The Everett Herald, Denton was fishing for perch and bluegill on Sunday when he cast his line into the lake near his home and came up with the unusual catch. One of his neighbors identified the fish as a pacu, a native South American freshwater fish that are related to the piranha. “Bang, there it was,” Denton told the Herald. “It’s a pretty big fish, a big...