Man-sized duck-eating CATFISH ‘The Beast of Beiseforth’ that’s so big locals feared it was a shark on rampage in Germany

A MAN-sized duck-eating catfish dubbed “The Beast of Beiseforth” has grown so big that locals feared it was a shark.

Anglers from all over Germany are now on their way to a tiny village in north-east Hesse in the hope of capturing the terrifying behemoth.

Anglers are attempting to hunt a man-sized catfish eating ducks in a German lakeGetty

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One person caught the beast on camera, but it was too big to fit in the frame[/caption]

Getty

The beast is so big that locals initially thought it was a shark[/caption]

Believed to dwell in a small natural bathing lake on Beiseforth campsite in central Germany, the giant catfish is feared to be on the rampage.

Photographic evidence of the beast was captured last summer when a camper snapped it in shallow waters just inches from where they were stood.

The catfish was so big, in fact, that the mobile used to take the photo couldn’t even fit the whole of its head in the frame.

Estimated to be a whopping 5.9ft long, the creature was so big that the camper who took the photo was left terrified and demanded the lake be closed.

Beiseforth campsite Thomas Folli told Bild: “The woman ran to me and just shouted: ‘You have to close the lake. There’s a shark!'”

Folli quickly realised that the alleged shark was actually a catfish, but was not prepared for its sheer size.

Catfish are known to be the largest freshwater predatory fish in Europe and can usually grow to between 3.2ft and 4.9ft long.

However, Folli had never seen one quite as big as what appeared to be swimming around in his lake – especially one that could eat a full sized duck.

Having been made aware of the supposed “shark” in the pond, he was fully prepared to witness a catfish of some size.

What he wasn’t prepared for was to witness a catfish that showed the same predatory and eating habits.

“I was standing on the bank smoking a cigarette,” Folli told Bild. “A duck was swimming not far away.

“Suddenly something dark like a funnel appeared before my eyes… and then the duck was suddenly gone.”

In the blink of an eye, the duck has disappeared from view and presumably straight into the mouth of the catfish, never to be seen again.

Catfish are known to eat the likes of frogs, crabs and other fish – even ducklings.

But chomping on a full-sized duck is rarely heard of, and only the biggest beasts can stomach it.

According to water warden Philipp Montag, 25, from the local fishing club, it takes “several days” for a catfish to digest a duck.

Following the initial reports of the giant beast lurking in the depths of the pond, Montag went out and searched for it last autumn.

He used a sonar boat with depth sounders to try and locate it, but to no avail.

With almost a year gone without any success of locating the beast, residents have come up with two theories over its whereabouts.

The first is that the giant catfish swam further into the Fulda, a river running through Hesse, or it is hiding in the mud at the bottom of the lake.

There are even fears that it will rise once more when it gets hungry again.

However, warden Montag has reassured visitors that catfish do not attack humans.

There is a known case from Austria where a catfish is said to have attacked a 14-year-old swimmer, according to Bild, although the girl only suffered abrasions.

Regardless, Montag insists catfish are not dangerous to the campsites visitors.

“They are more afraid of us than we are of them,” he said.

“In addition, they only have small, blunt teeth like sandpaper.”

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Catfish can grow to astronomical sizes – as shown in this photo here[/caption]