All around the world there are river species lurking in freshwater depths that offer genuine peril. Meet the river creatures with real attitude and the armoury to match.
The deadliest river animals in the world
Bull shark
When 32-year-old Vickey Govari was fishing in the Vaitarna River north of Mumbai in India’s state of Maharashtra, the last thing on his mind was likely to have been the possibility he could be attacked by a shark. Unfortunately for him, bull sharks are renowned for entering estuaries and can even swim upstream into fresh water. The 200kg beast ripped off a large part of his calf and nearly severed his leg at the ankle.
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Electric eel
The idea of an animal that can deliver life-threatening electric shocks seems, well, shocking, though it was the existence of this strange fish (not, technically an eel, but a knifefish) that gave Alessandro Volta the idea to create the electric battery in 1799.
In fact, the electric eel is three species, all of which live in the Amazon or Orinoco river basins of South America. One of them, Electrophorus voltai (see where it got its name?), can deliver a charge of 860 volts, enough to stun an adult or kill a child. We named it one of the deadliest fish in the world).
Nile or electric catfish
The electric eel is not the only fish with a built-in battery – in fact, all knife fishes do, as does the Nile or electric catfish, a remarkable beast that is depicted in fishing scenes painted on the walls of tombs by ancient Egyptians nearly 5,000 years ago. What they knew of its special powers is not clear, but we do have an account of them recorded by a 12th century Arab physician.
Ocellate river stingray
When Kalley Ferreira of Brazil’s Institute of Medical Research and Education was stung by an stingray, he couldn’t have imagined he’d still be suffering the after effects eight months later. Ferreira put his ordeal to good use by writing a scientific paper that describes in painful (though, only to read) detail the effects of the toxin.
Freshwater stingrays cause numerous injuries every year because they live in South American rivers where recreational swimmers are common. And just in case you should ever need to know, Ferreira found pain killers provided little relief, but hot compresses did.
Goliath tigerfish
Described by the celebrity angler Jeremy Wade as “a giant piranha”, the goliath tigerfish can grow to 70kg. It inhabits the Congo Basin, and the people of Central Africa say it can snatch children from the river shallows. Its more than 30 conical teeth can be up to 2.5cm long, as big as a great white shark’s teeth. Sport fishermen from around the world travel to the Congo in the hope of landing this true monster of Africa’s Heart of Darkness.
Hippopotamus
Don’t believe the cliche that hippopotamuses kill more people than any other animal in Africa (mosquitoes, anyone?), but there is no doubt they are best avoided in certain situations.
Just ask Paul Templer – he nearly died when a hippo attacked and overturned his kayak while he was leading a river safari on the Zambezi, and he eventually lost one of his arms after it had been “crushed to a pulp”. That said, it’s people who live day-by-day with hippos, not western tourists, who have most to fear from them.
Nile crocodile
Nile crocodiles are fearsome beasts – a large male can grow to 4.5 metres long and weigh 700kg – and a real threat to humans. One study carried out in Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda unearthed records of 115 attacks between 2012-17, of which 84 per cent were fatal.
Most attacks occurred when people were fishing or collecting water. Another piece of research carried out in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) found that 65 per cent of victims were male and more than half were aged 15 or under.
Piranha
The 1970s B movie Piranha did for this fish what Jaws did for great white sharks, and ever since the name has conjured images of unsuspecting bathers being stripped to the bone by piscatorial mincing machines.
There are an estimated 30-60 species of piranha, but most of them aren’t remotely dangerous to humans, and some only eat fruit. That said, people swimming in dammed river areas in parts of Brazil have been known to suffer occasional bites from species such as speckled piranhas. Other attacks on humans mostly occur after victims have died, perhaps from heart attacks.
Saltwater crocodile
Think of the saltwater crocodile, or saltie, and you probably think of the Australian outback, but this species – the largest living reptile and one of the world's deadliest animals – lies in wait for careless swimmers or paddlers throughout a vast sweep of Indonesia and as far north as West Bengal. And it’s Indonesia that suffers the most attacks from salties, with more than 450 recorded deaths over a 10-year period. Two islands off the east coast of south Sumatra, Bangka and Belitung, are said to be the most dangerous places in the whole country.
Giant candiru, Amazon Basin
What’s worse than a tiny catfish that has a mythical penchant for swimming into a human urethra and lodging itself there? What about a larger catfish of the same family that can strip living tissue down to the bone in minutes. Even wildlife hardman Steve Backshall is afraid of them. “That is grotesque,” he says in disgust of giant candirus filmed during one episode of Deadly 60. “It’s bored a hole straight into the gut of that fish.” Best avoided if having holes drilled in your flesh isn’t your thing.
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