Facebook Post Claims Bluegills Are Dangerous…Are They? [PHOTO]

I've been fishing for most of my life. In fact, the first fish I ever caught was a little bluegill from a nearby farm pond. I loved it so much I wanted to sleep with it. True story. However, if I'd known how deadly bluegills were, I'd have left it in the pond! Perhaps you've seen a post on Facebook floating around that makes the following claims.

The Bluegill fish is one of the most dangerous fish in North America. The Bluegill is related to the deadly piranna which is responsible for 20,000 deaths per year. When bluegills are feeding in schools, they can completely dismantle a human body in less than 15 minutes. Bluegills are responsible for over 500 deaths in the United States every summer.

Now I'll admit it. This took me by quite a surprise. I didn't doubt that they might be related to the piranhas. They do kind of look like the deadly fish. But I've held plenty of bluegills in my life and I'm fairly sure they don't have anything sharp enough in their mouth to do any damage to my hand or the rest of my body for that matter. Before you go questioning everything you know about fish, the post is FALSE.

First of all, bluegills are NOT related to piranhas at all! Many people have confused bluegills for piranhas in the past so perhaps that's where the confusion came from. The post appears an attempt at humor. But as you know, too many people think that if it's online, it must be true! So keep fishing for bluegills. The only thing they'll eat is the worm on your hook!

[via EarnTheNecklace]