Are Bluegills Dangerous to People? Stop the Misinformation

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I’ve seen a lot of forum questions asking if it’s true that bluegills are related to piranhas and school up to eat people. To me, this is the most ridiculous idea I’ve heard regarding fish in a long. Anyone who has ever caught or handled bluegill before can tell this is absolute fiction. For the sake of setting this record straight, let’s take a closer look.

Do bluegills eat people? Bluegills do not eat people nor are their mouths designed to do so. Bluegills eat a diet mostly of small insects, fish, tadpoles, and zooplankton. Even a school of a thousand bluegills will do little more than tickle a swimmer assuming the school didn’t swim away in retreat.

I have seen the Facebook post that started this myth and it is complete garbage. This is the kind of misinformation that we are trying to eliminate nowadays.

The author of that post clearly was misleading anyone who would believe it. Bluegills do possess sharp defensive spines which can hurt if you aren’t careful but they are not dangerous to humans.

Many people see the body shape of a bluegill and see similarities in piranhas but they aren’t related whatsoever. Piranhas are meat-eating carnivores. The only meat bluegills consume are insects, tiny fish, and tadpoles. Human flesh is certainly out of the equation.

Check out this helpful guide on the best water temperature to catch bluegill.

Are Bluegills Dangerous to Humans?

Are Bluegills Related to Piranha?

Bluegills are not related to piranhas any more than carp are. Alright, I don’t know if that’s true but it may as well be. Bluegills belong to the sunfish family of which South American piranha certainly are not. Many people just assume the two species are related since they have the same body shape and design.

Both piranhas and bluegills are examples of deep-bodied fish. This is actually an example of convergent evolution where two non-related species evolve similarly to take advantage of their environment.

Deep-bodied fish like bluegills, piranhas, angelfish, and tang have deep but thin bodies to make them more difficult to be spotted from above and below, make it tougher for predators to get their mouths around the fish, and make them more maneuverable for predator evasion.

The only things bluegills share in common with piranhas is their body shape and that they are freshwater fish.

Another example of convergent evolution is butterflies and birds. They can share the same wing design and function but are in no way related. Their bodies just evolved to serve the same purpose which is flight and gliding.

Click here for a complete breakdown of some of the most fascinating bluegill facts you don’t already know.

Can Bluegills Eat Humans?

Bluegills won’t eat people. Bluegills lack the power scissor-like teeth that piranha has. Even in schools of 100+, bluegills will not eat a human. Bluegill eat aquatic invertebrates, crayfish, small fish, tadpoles, and aquatic vegetation. Physically, bluegills are not capable of feeding on people.

Forget what any online misinformation tells you, bluegills do not kill people and cannot unless you try swallowing one whole and it gets stuck in your throat.

Anyone who tells you differently has never caught bluegill before and never taken a look inside its mouth. Furthermore, they have a complete lack of understanding of what bluegills eat.

Can Bluegills Kill People?

The short simple answer is no, bluegills can’t kill people. That said, you could die from anything. You could die from drinking too much water, you could die from eating too much healthy food.

You could probably find a way to die from anything. Is there any way a bluegill could kill a person?

Sure. Hypothetically, you could die trying to swallow a large bluegill whole and choke. You could choke on a bite of bluegill meat at Sunday dinner. Does that mean the bluegill killed you or you carelessly choked on food you didn’t properly chew?

Bluegills in the water do not and cannot kill people. They won’t devour a person in a feeding frenzy like a school of piranhas can. That is just silly and completely false.

Can Bluegills Hurt You?

Bluegills can hurt you if you aren’t careful. The experience will be more painful than damaging though. Bluegills possess sharp dorsal spines and 2-3 sharp spines in their anal fin.

When threatened or handled by fishermen, bluegills will erect these spines in a defensive posture. The spines are meant to make their bodies too large for a predator to fit fully in their mouths.

This is why most predatory fish will consume bluegills head first since moving bluegill through their mouth and throat in this manner will depress the spines allowing the bluegill to safely pass into the fish’s stomach.

Every fisherman at some point in their life has been stabbed by at least one of these defensive spines out of carelessness.

Getting poked by bluegill spines rarely draws blood but it can be a painful reminder to be more careful next time. Bluegills are capable of causing some pain to a person but they are certainly not dangerous to people.

Do Bluegills Have Poisonous Spines?

The sharp spines of bluegills are not poisonous. Technically, fish spine toxins are labeled as venomous since venom is injected and poison is ingested or inhaled. Getting stabbed by a bluegill’s spines will hurt a bit, but they are not toxic in any way.

What’s the Safest Way to Handle Bluegills?

The safest way to handle bluegills is by grasping the bluegill width-wise where your fingers and thumb can depress, or push down, the sharp defensive spines of the dorsal and anal fins.

The muscles that control the erection of these spines are very weak compared to the minimal force needed by your hand to depress them.

By grabbing bluegill in this manner, not only are you protecting your hand from getting stabbed, you are protecting the fish from injuring itself. This method also makes controlling a fish easier which will make hook removal and release easier.

Final Thoughts: Are Bluegills Dangerous for People?

Bluegills are one of the safest fish you can catch. They are small, readily-abundant, hard-fighting, and aggressive feeders. Humans are not on the menu even if they wanted it to be. Bluegills possess a mouth incapable of tearing away flesh.

They do have some sharp fins that require a careful grasp but pose little more than an inconvenience. Do not believe everything you read online. Bluegills are not dangerous to humans and they are not responsible for human deaths.