This is the Flintstones moment a fisherman in Brazil uses the razor-sharp teeth of a live flesh-eating piranha to bite through cable ties on a fish trap.

Video footage of the improvised scissors shows the fisherman holding the fish firmly behind its head while apparently wearing armoured bite-proof gloves.

He then lowers its jaws toward the thick plastic ties and the piranha’s bite reflex kicks in as it chomps through them like tissue paper.

As the clip ends, he carefully slips the fish back into the trap in Linhares, in the state of Espirito Santo.

The fisherman, named as Ray Guati in local media reports, impressed social media users with his inventive use of the piranha.

Ray and the person filming joked that the piranha was making itself “useful”.

To some, it reminded them of the animals used as gadgets in the TV cartoon The Flintstones, like a bird’s beak for a hi-fi needle and a turtle as a car jack.

The video was reportedly made by Ray for Jaguare Pescas, a social media handle dedicated to fishing.

Some local media reports said the footage had notched up more than 230 million views since being shared online at the end of April, while others said it had garnered over 230,000 views.