Mysterious creature biting children

Originally posted by thedarklingthrush
Honestly it looks like another kid bit her to me.

The marks don't match any sort of fish.

Well, they don't match teeth marks either, so not a kid.

Since there aren't no clear defined "teeth'ish" features in the bruises, I would also guess on some fish.

Hope its not one of these....


Gar Fish.....





[edit on 11/19/09 by thedeadtruth]

reply to post by thedeadtruth


It's not a gar. The marks would be elongated and most likely if a gar attacked the kid would have been pulled under (they get pretty darn big) same for pike or musky. It's not a walleye because you would see teeth marks and that little girl would have been bleeding really bad. It's not a carp because they are sucker fish like bottom feeders (not many people know this I guess). Plus a carp's mouth is too small to make that kind of bite, even a big one.

I think it's a catfish as the teeth are more like sand paper. Catfish can also grow to massive size. Some the size of sharks. I've seen catfish that where taller than me before.

Judging by the size of the girl in correlation with the size of the bite marks. I would guess it's a channel catfish around 6 lbs and about 3 feet long. Luckily for her as that lake probably contains some monsters. I would bet anything a large cat could drag her under.

[edit on 7-6-2010 by DaMod]

Originally posted by stereologist

You are wrong. This happened when I lived in Texas. It was in several newspapers at the time.

Oh and what do you know about catfish? I have dealt with them since I was 5 years old, and held every NA species that gets large enough for pole and line fishing by the mouth with my hands. They don't even have teeth, they have rough patches in their mouths. If this happened it was an invasive species.

Again you are wrong. The place was drained and several large catfish were removed from the lake. The water body was refilled and the problem went away.

This has nothing to do with what I said, which was catfish don't like shallow water to feed in or lots of mammal activity in the water they feed in. A shadow over the water will scare a catfish back into deepwater, much less splashing and yelling.

As far as the bite mark on the girl it is definitely not from another kid otherwise there would be teeth marks. We see none.

So what is that red shape on her leg if not a bite mark? and shock! it's just the right size for a small human child to have bitten her. We also know there were lots of other small children in the area at the time. And we know that small children will often bite other small children for no apparent reason.

So if you can offer anything better than "well I read something like this in the paper one time" then go ahead, but I'm telling you its not a catfish.

reply to post by thedarklingthrush

They don't even have teeth

I'm sorry, but they do have teeth.
Pylodictis olivaris

Internal morphology: Premaxillary band of teeth on upper jaw with a lateral backward extension on each side (Hubbs et al. 1991).

In the Monster's Maw

Catfish may not have fangs, but they do have maxillary teeth: thick rows of inward-curving barbs designed to let food in but not out. When clamped on your arm, catfish also have an unfortunate tendency to bear down and spin, like a sharpener on a pencil. "It ain't nothin' but sandpaper -- real coarse sandpaper," an Arkansas noodler told me recently. "But once that thing gets to flouncin', and that sandpaper gets to rubbin', it can peel your hide plumb off."

This has nothing to do with what I said, which was catfish don't like shallow water to feed in or lots of mammal activity in the water they feed in. A shadow over the water will scare a catfish back into deepwater, much less splashing and yelling.

In this case there was no deep water for the catfish to move to. The catfish were not scared of shadows, yelling, splashing, whatever in the water.

So what is that red shape on her leg if not a bite mark? and shock! it's just the right size for a small human child to have bitten her.

Like catfish you seem to be unfamiliar with childrens bite marks. Where are the teeth marks? It's not a kid's bite mark as others in this thread have pointed out.

[edit on 7-6-2010 by stereologist]

Catfish can definitely bite! They dont have teeth like you're thinking.. not channel cats and etc anyway, but they can hurt you.. and leave a mark just like that. Their jaws are actually pretty strong and that bone ridge can hurt like heck if one gets a wild hair and clamps down! In the Missisippi river near St.Louis there was a catfish caught that was 8 feet long and had a head twice as large as a human adult male that was standing there with it. You could clearly see a defined bone ridge in the mouth. Heck, its whiskers were bigger around than a pencil. If the guy who is arguing that cats dont bite/have no teeth would listen a bit.. yes, they can and do. Not every species has those abilities or traits, but yes.. catfish do.

In ALton Illinois... there was a shark that killed 2 kids. A saltwater shark in that area.. and yes, this is documented. Im from Louisiana, born and bred, and some types of sharks can flip over into being fresh water.. and travel a long way up river. It happens.. not out of the ordinary, so its not breaking national news Thats NOT a shark bite obviously.

My vote is for a catfish. You dont even want to see a Gar attack.. sometimes youll catch one and get it in the boat and it will start in on you. When we used to fish and if I caught a gar, I'd cut the dang line!

Remember, not everything is mysterious just because you personally haven't heard of it or experienced it before.

My first guess was bowfin, but looking again I'd guess catfish too. The bite does look like something like a catfish's sandpaper like teeth might do. I know they can both be territorial when spawning. I remember a case of bowfin biting swimmers before in Michigan

Could even possibly be a snake head google it check it out. just an idea

reply to post by -Human83


Snakeheads have teeth that might have left scratches or punctures. That's why I was thinking that catfish was more likely. Their teeth are smaller.

I found the following news article. It seems to be the last mention of this event. I guess that the biting episode is over.

Warning signs to be placed at Ind. lake after swimmers bitten by mysterious creature

It's a 2 inch bite. It isn't a bull shark. It isn't a catfish. It isn't a bluegill bite. It seems that its almost obviously a lmaprey or some other type of suckerfish.

In the new article I referenced 2 posts back it says.

However, fish and wildlife suspects it's a catfish protecting its nest.