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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Division of Wildlife Resources officers confiscated 16 piranha fish from a Magna resident and killed them.
The DWR officers visited the home on Tuesday on a tip from the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office.
The homeowner was cited for possessing illegal fish, conservation officer Ray Loken said. The charge is a Class C misdemeanor.
The fish are illegal because wildlife officials fear they could become established in Utah waters.
"If they start reproducing it will be tough to get rid of them, and they are kind of a hazard," Loken said.
There are two confirmed cases of anglers catching piranha in Utah, both from the Jordan River in the Salt Lake Valley, and many other anglers claim to have caught them and let them go.
The first confirmed catch was in 1992 and was of an 11-inch red-bellied piranha weighing more than a pound. Another was caught two summers ago.
Loken said the fish confiscated Tuesday were all about 6 inches long.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
