Ferocious-looking fish caught in Petaluma pond

A Petaluma fisherman’s catch at a duck pond over the weekend flashed a ghastly grin as it dangled on the line.

With hook and worm, Juan Gallo reeled in a pacu fish - known for its teeth resembling a human’s - at the Lucchesi Park pond near the Petaluma Community Center.

The pacu’s large teeth cut the line as Gallo lifted it out of the water, he said.

“It landed on the dirt and you could tell it wasn’t anything we had seen before,” the fisherman said.

Last summer, another angler pulled in a pacu at Roberts Lake in Rohnert Park. The freshwater fish, originally from the Amazon, has a bloodline tracing to the flesh-eating piranhas of South America.

They are sold at pet shops in the United States but are illegal in California.

Gallo said he’ll try to turn his catch over to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and if they don’t want it, he may have it stuffed and keep it.