Pygocentrus piraya, often called the piraya piranha or San Francisco piranha, and sometimes sold as the man-eating piranha, is a large, aggressive piranha from the São Francisco River basin in Brazil.
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It is one of the largest piranhas, reaching a maximum length of 50 cm in the wild, and is sometimes considered the most beautiful, with its orange to yellow belly coloration, silver eyes, and rayed fibrous adipose fin. Like most other piranhas, P. piraya is laterally compressed and roughly circular in profile, and bears a mouthful of very sharp teeth. The lower jaw is thick, strong, and protruding.
Namesedit
It is known by many vernacular names, such as Rio São Francisco piranha, black-tailed piranha, and king emperor piranha, and locally it is simply termed piraya.
Dietedit
This fish is an omnivore, but when hungry, stressed, or seeking live food it is very aggressive. This characteristic combined with its large size make it a danger to humans. Piranha attacks on humans are anecdotal for the most part. The piranha prefers to eat small fish and insects, along with seeds and aquatic plant material. The pirayas aggressive and mutilating nature puts them at the top of their food chain in the river basin. The pygocentrus piraya plays a key role in their ecosystem by regulating the population of other fish[3]
In captivityedit
The piraya is sometimes available as an aquarium fish. It is not generally bred in captivity, so aquarium pirayas are usually imported from South America and can be expensive. Any other fish sharing a tank with a piraya should be of the same or a similar piranha species. Other types of fish will be attacked and eaten.
Referencesedit
^Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio). (2022). "Pygocentrus piraya". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T186786A1818359. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
^SANTOS-CLAPP, M. D., DUARTE, R., ALBUQUERQUE, M. C., & BRASIL-SATO, M. C.. (2022). Helminth endoparasites of endemic fish Pygocentrus piraya (Characiformes, Serrasalmidae) from Três Marias reservoir, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Anais Da Academia Brasileira De Ciências, 94(4), e20201425. https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202220201425
February 15, 2024
pygocentrus, piraya, often, called, piraya, piranha, francisco, piranha, sometimes, sold, eating, piranha, large, aggressive, piranha, from, são, francisco, river, basin, brazil, conservation, statusleast, concern, iucn, scientific, classificationdomain, eukar. Pygocentrus piraya often called the piraya piranha or San Francisco piranha and sometimes sold as the man eating piranha is a large aggressive piranha from the Sao Francisco River basin in Brazil Pygocentrus pirayaConservation statusLeast Concern IUCN 3 1 1 Scientific classificationDomain EukaryotaKingdom AnimaliaPhylum ChordataClass ActinopterygiiOrder CharaciformesFamily SerrasalmidaeGenus PygocentrusSpecies P pirayaBinomial namePygocentrus piraya G Cuvier 1819 2 SynonymsSerrasalmus PirayaThis article relies largely or entirely on a single source Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources Find sources Pygocentrus piraya news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2022 Contents 1 Description 2 Names 3 Diet 4 In captivity 5 ReferencesDescription editIt is one of the largest piranhas reaching a maximum length of 50 cm in the wild and is sometimes considered the most beautiful with its orange to yellow belly coloration silver eyes and rayed fibrous adipose fin Like most other piranhas P piraya is laterally compressed and roughly circular in profile and bears a mouthful of very sharp teeth The lower jaw is thick strong and protruding Names editIt is known by many vernacular names such as Rio Sao Francisco piranha black tailed piranha and king emperor piranha and locally it is simply termed piraya Diet editThis fish is an omnivore but when hungry stressed or seeking live food it is very aggressive This characteristic combined with its large size make it a danger to humans Piranha attacks on humans are anecdotal for the most part The piranha prefers to eat small fish and insects along with seeds and aquatic plant material The pirayas aggressive and mutilating nature puts them at the top of their food chain in the river basin The pygocentrus piraya plays a key role in their ecosystem by regulating the population of other fish 3 In captivity editThe piraya is sometimes available as an aquarium fish It is not generally bred in captivity so aquarium pirayas are usually imported from South America and can be expensive Any other fish sharing a tank with a piraya should be of the same or a similar piranha species Other types of fish will be attacked and eaten References edit Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservacao da Biodiversidade ICMBio 2022 Pygocentrus piraya IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022 e T186786A1818359 Retrieved 1 December 2022 Pygocentrus piraya FishBase SANTOS CLAPP M D DUARTE R ALBUQUERQUE M C amp BRASIL SATO M C 2022 Helminth endoparasites of endemic fish Pygocentrus piraya Characiformes Serrasalmidae from Tres Marias reservoir Minas Gerais Brazil Anais Da Academia Brasileira De Ciencias 94 4 e20201425 https doi org 10 1590 0001 3765202220201425 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Pygocentrus piraya amp oldid 1195619886, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
