Since the vast majority of people in the world don’t spend a tremendous amount of time looking around beneath the surface of lakes, rivers and ponds, there’s a lot about them that we don’t know. In this case, it’s all about the creatures that inhabit these freshwater habitats. Some of them you have probably heard of and some of them you may never have heard of. Either way, these are the kinds of creatures you probably don’t want to meet up with when you’re out for a refreshing summertime dip at a lakeside beach. While some of them just look scary and don’t really do much harm, a few of them can be dangerous enough to be life-threatening.
1. Piranha
Image Source: Marcelo Jorge Vieira
These little savages may be the first thing that comes to mind when someone brings up the subject of nasty freshwater fish, and for good reason! The piranha may not be quite the terror that it is often portrayed on television or in the movies but it would not be wise to test that theory in real life. There are healthy populations present in a number of rivers in South America, and although attacks on people are very rare, a group of these things feeding on an animal carcass can be quite a sight to see.
