What is the scariest animal to meet in fresh water?

Teeth, venom, voltage and sheer bulk, lurking in rivers and swamps on five continents. Which one would make you climb back into the boat fastest?

1. 1
   Saltwater Crocodile

   Largest living reptile, at home in rivers and estuaries from India to northern Australia and responsible for dozens of attacks a year.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Hippopotamus

   Three-tonne river grazer that kills more people in Africa each year than lions or crocodiles.
   600pts
3. 3
   Wels Catfish

   European river giant growing past two and a half metres, with folk tales of it dragging swimmers under.
   550pts
4. 4
   Electric Eel

   Amazon knifefish able to discharge over 600 volts, enough to stun a swimmer into drowning.
   494pts
5. 5
   Alligator Snapping Turtle

   Spiked, hundred-kilo turtle of American rivers whose bite can take off a finger.
   494pts
6. 6
   Bull Shark

   Stocky shark that swims far up rivers and has been found over a thousand miles inland in the Amazon and Mississippi.
   428pts
7. 7
   Nile Crocodile

   Africa's river apex predator, blamed for more human deaths than any other crocodilian.
   350pts
8. 8
   Candiru

   Tiny parasitic Amazon catfish feared for the legend that it swims into human orifices.
   350pts
9. 9
   Giant Freshwater Stingray

   Mekong river ray weighing up to 300 kilos with a barbed tail spine that can pierce bone.
   350pts
10. 10
    Goliath Tigerfish

    Congo River predator with 32 dagger-like teeth that has been recorded attacking people.
    350pts
11. 11
    Cottonmouth

    Venomous water moccasin of southern US swamps that flashes a white mouth before striking.
    350pts
12. 12
    Burmese Python

    Five-metre constrictor now thriving in the Florida Everglades after escaping the pet trade.
    350pts
13. 13
    American Alligator

    Up to four-metre crocodilian of swamps and bayous across the southeastern United States.
    350pts
14. 14
    Leech

    Blood-sucking worm of ponds and slow rivers that attaches painlessly and is noticed only afterwards.
    257pts
15. 15
    Green Anaconda

    Heaviest snake on Earth, a constrictor that ambushes prey from the shallows of South American wetlands.
    257pts
16. 16
    Arapaima

    Three-metre armoured Amazon fish that breathes air and can knock a fisherman out of a canoe with its head.
    257pts
17. 17
    Piranha

    Razor-toothed Amazon fish with a reputation for feeding frenzies that outruns its actual record.
    0pts
18. 18
    Black Caiman

    Largest predator of the Amazon basin, a crocodilian reaching five metres that hunts at night.
    0pts

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