Paris river police report that the South American pacu has been found in the French capital's iconic waterway

Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images A young boy views a pacu fish at the Beijing Aquarium on May 30, 2012.

Updated: 9:50 a.m. ET

Amazonian fish with a taste for testicles are lurking in Paris’s romantic River Seine, according to local officials. A cousin of the piranha, the pacu has human-like teeth and stirs fear in swimmers and fishermen worried over their extremities.

Although originally from South America, the species has now been discovered as far afield as Papua New Guinea and Sweden. It’s fearsome reputation led to the moniker “ball cutter,” according to celebrity fisherman Jeremy Wade who investigated the creature for Animal Planet.

[Daily Telegraph]

Update: After reports of a pacu appearing in Danish waters in August, scientists shot down rumors that the fish is much of a danger to male (or female) anatomy. One piranha researcher told CNN that the pacus are vegetarian and have no record of attacking humans.