This article is about the episode. For other uses, visit Piranha (disambiguation).
Piranha is the first episode of the first season of River Monsters.
Episode Description[]
In 1976, a packed coach crashed into the Amazon killing 39 people. Some of the bodies had been so viciously mutilated by piranhas they could only be identified by their clothes. Extreme angler Jeremy Wade investigates the piranha.
Episode Summary[]
Jeremy Wade hears a story of a packed coach crashed into the Amazon, killing many people. Jeremy believes that some people did not just drown, they were eaten alive. He heads into the Amazon to find out for himself.
As he is looking for suspects, he unearths more horrific stories about Piranha attacks. A person killed and eaten so horribly that nothing remained except for their clothes and their bones. Another who was torn so badly their family could only recognize them by their clothes. He realizes that Piranhas are some of the most feared predators here.
As he continues to look for witnesses and suspects, he tracks down a man who survived the coach crash. After gaining some vital details from him, he has made up his mind that piranhas are deadly predators in many cases. When he fishes he is easily catching Piranhas and knows that they are plentiful in this region, but are they really killers?
In order to find out, Jeremy jumps off his canoe and swims in the water to see if he is attacked by Piranhas. He isn't attacked and safely climbs back into the boat. But he still has to try one more test. This time he sits in a pool full of piranhas while they are feeding, and he still isn't attacked.
Jeremy concludes that Piranhas generally don't attack people unless accidentally they do. Although Piranha attacks are occasionally happening, they are not the killer that most people expect them to be.
Animals Featured[]
Locations Featured[]
Trivia[]
- Although being filmed second, this episode was broadcast first instead of Killer Catfish.
- Contrary to the 5 or so minutes Jeremy sat in the pool, he was actually there for over half an hour off-screen, as stated in a YouTube interview.
- This episode features the most of Jeremy's "human bait" tests. The maximum in other episodes is one but he does two in this episode.