Known as the "Goonch" these are found throughout Asia and can grow as large as a man. "The Kali River goonch attacks were a series of fatal attacks on humans believed to be perpetrated by man-eating goonch catfish[1] in three villages on the banks of the Kali River in India and Nepal, between 1998 and 2007.
British biologist Jeremy Wade volunteered to capture the perpetrator. Though originally skeptical of the truth behind the attacks, he later became intrigued because the attacks only occurred in a specific area spanning 4–5 miles. He was told by the villagers that the creature likely developed a taste for human flesh and had grown large after eating half burnt human remains discarded from funeral pyres on the river banks. After examining the water where Bahadur had disappeared with a depth sounder, Wade discounted the possibility of the boy having been dragged by a whirlpool, as the attacks all occurred in areas After an unsuccessful attempt was made at capturing one with a fishing rod, a funeral pyre was set up in order to lure one in. A record breaking 6 ft goonch was captured the day after, and was weighed at 73.0 kg (161 lbs),[4][5] three times the weight of an average goonch. Although Wade estimated that the fish was strong and large enough to eat a small child, he stated on interview that he believed that larger specimens were likely to exist, and that the specimen he captured was not large enough to be the alleged maneater, on the basis of the sizes of the victims.[3] These events were shown on his program River Monsters |
without turbulence. Later, a kilometer away, a domestic water buffalo was reportedly dragged underwater by a strange animal while drinking in water only one meter (3 feet) deep. Wade theorised that the creature would have had to have weighed 200–300 lbs in order to do so