I was just reading up on the opefe website and i came upon this. last updated in September of 09. i'm honestly shocked that there hasn't been more documented piranhas found in our waters. Guess we should all give ourselves a pat on the back. just look at the way it was handled in Florida in 1979
There are a few recorded cases of piranha introduction in U.S. waters in over 60+ years this fish has been available to the home aquarist (See MAP above). That in itself is a miracle considering how long these fish have been available to the pet industry. In Hawaii on the island of Oahu (Wahiawa Reservoir) in 1992 a mature female Pygocentrus nattereri was captured in 1993 (NICO, 2000). There was no indication the species had become established (Radke 1995 and NICO, 2000). The piranha was quickly destroyed. Four other instances were found on the mainland in Florida where a small population (S. rhombeus) was found in Monkeyland amusement park pond and 3 Pygocentrus nattereri were found as single captures in 1974 Dade County and Palm beach county 1979, which resulted in the lake being treated with rotenone killing all fishes present including all native fishes. However, just as recent (1998) a Pygocentrus nattereri (identification verified) was captured in Canada in a lake. That specimen was obviously a tank raised piranha according to Dr. W. L. Fink who spent time examining the fish (pers com. Fink, 1998). Piranhas have been reported captured in ten states, including Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia (Nico, 2000). However, few were actually documented as a piranha and might have been a pacu instead.
