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I might see the fish in a second.
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Finally, a flash of Finn at the surface shows I'm dead on target.
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This is the para, more commonly known as the Amazon red tailed catfish.
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It's Guarani name comes from the word for fish pier on the word for parrot Harare because the fish is Finn's look like the plumage of the scarlet macaw at the water.
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They grunt, but also they make this squeaking noise.
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It's a piece of bone clicking against another piece of bone, and I can only imagine that that is, actually for communication underwater.
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These things live in pretty low viz conditions, hence the feelers.
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But this gives him another channel of communication to operate on next to its color.
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The Red Tails most striking feature is its enormous head.
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Around 1/3 of its total body length wide mouth, very capacious mouth cavity.
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Lots of little teeth form these sort of sandpaper.
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He pads one here, one of the lower jaw, very good for for gripping prey.
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Anything they get hold off, she could see my finger.
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It's sort of frost robs my finger there, but I still have too many unanswered questions to condemn the red tail just yet.
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If these predators were involved, exactly what role did they play?
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I know they can grow to a size where they could easily engulf half a human leg, and I felt more than enough power to pull someone under.
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But what is it about the way they operate that could both account for the carnage and so many people wiped out so quickly?
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So near the shore, the only way to find out is to keep fishing.
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Yeah, bye hole in one red tail after another.
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But in order to bring the fish in, I have to take them on in an underwater battleground, booby trapped with snags that's repeatedly destroying my dear.
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It's just on some sharp.
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It would as the fish come in, I'm building up a picture of what's going on under the water on.
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It seems that they very much like proximity to snakes, proximity there, like being right in these fallen trees.
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I could feel it grating on a branch, so that's basically cut on a branch.
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But fishing, these nightmarish snags has revealed the answer.
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I'm after catfish clamped on something swimming.
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If it is somebody's toes on way going around on the fish grabs hold of it.
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It's gonna drag the whole thing with it.
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The entire person is going to come with me, Okay?
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It might eventually like in that time, that could make the difference between staying above the surface and drowning.
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And once the victims under the water Amazons, sharp toothed predators and scavengers on move in to finish the job.
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To be sure of my theory, I need to bring up a beast that's clearly capable of engulfing a limb.
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I have to attend to one more catch with what's left of my tackle.
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I might be a bounce against more than I bargained for.
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The beast isn't a heavyweight red tail, but £100 plus period.
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This goes to show that these pristine waters aren't patrolled by just one type of giant predatory catfish, but two and both were found at Abydos.
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But there's a problem.
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Hook has been taken deep inside the mouth, and I need to take it out, shove my hand in to get the hook out.
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It's gonna give you It's been in my home, But this extreme opportunity to feel the bite of a big catfish gives me the last piece of evidence I need.
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Pero Eva are in the same family as red tails on.
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They have virtually identical rasping pants in the mouths.
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Thes give them a grip that prevents slippery, struggling prey from escaping a grip far superior to human hands.
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Onda grip that I now know, would have no problem holding struggling prey in the dark waters of Barbados night.
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The boat went down 30 years ago.
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Torpedoes used to chum the water with remains from the fish processing plant.
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I believe these exceptional conditions could have attracted the usually solitary Paraiba in greater numbers than normal, and they were far from alone.
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There were also hordes of emboldened, oversized red tails on these were fish used to grabbing morsels in the water, a bloody foot or somebody's arm.
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Quite conceivable, they grab thinking it's an edible morsel on dhe.
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If you think how little it takes to make the difference between keeping your head above water and going under, it's very little fish.
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The size of battery.
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Half the size of that gets a good grip on body on, decides to go, you're not gonna have much chance.
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No single element causes a disaster of this scale and from my investigation.
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I believe this catastrophe arose from an extraordinary convergence of conditions on culprits.
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I've uncovered gruesome flesh eaters that would have come in by the thousands that horrific night drawn to the sound and scent of bleeding passengers on prime to tear into and dismember the bodies of both living and dead and come daylight scavenging Peronnas would have moved in to clean up.
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From what I've seen, I think the devastation of this feeding frenzy was only made possible because something first pulled the victim's under large red tails, aided and abetted by Paraiba.
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Both have a grip power on the instinct of bold.
