The mother of an 18-month old girl was horrified upon hearing her daughter crying and noticed that the girl’s finger was bleeding with the fingertip missing.

Initially, she thought that her daughter’s fingertip was bitten by their pet pitbull at their Bay Colony residence in Maine Township in Chicago.

However, when the girl was rushed to a hospital by ambulance Tuesday night, it turns out that the culprit was a piranha the family kept in an aquarium.

Red Piranha

Cook County Sheriff’s investigation revealed that  piranhas, swimming in a fish tank near where the child had been playing, may have been responsible.

This was confirmed when the child’s father cut open one of the piranhas and the piece of his daughter’s finger was recovered inside the fish.

The child was rushed to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge but a spokeswoman could not say whether the fingertip had been successfully reattached.

Piranhas are omnivorous freshwater fish that inhabits South American rivers known for their sharp teeth and a voracious appetite for meat.