Red Piranha --- Fish

Serrasalmus nattereri

Piranhas lives in the waters of the Amazon region in schools that are made up of several hundred fish. Most piranhas are about a foot long, but in eastern Brazil 1 type of piranhas may reach 2 feet in length. Piranhas are famous because they eat flesh, but of about 20 kinds, only 4 types, including the red piranha, are aggressive and dangerous.

The lower jaw of the red piranha has very strong muscles and large, pointed teeth, as sharp as razor blades. The smallest teeth of the upper jaw are also very sharp. The piranha usually feeds on smaller fish. But sometimes schools may attack large mammals. They eat them completely to the bones in just a few minutes. The attack is so fast and awful that the river seems to boil with blood. The male is especially aggressive when watching over the eggs placed in water plants by the female. When the piranha is starving because it lives in a part of the river that is cut off from the main river during a dry period, for example, it is really dangerous to mammals. A hungry piranha will attack and eat almost anything. Otherwise, it sticks mostly to eating fish. Oddly enough, in South America, people often swim in rivers that are full of piranhas. These people are usually unharmed. Red piranhas are often kept in aquariums as pets. The aquarium has to be large and must have lots of plants. Several piranhas can live together, but it is not a good idea to put other kinds of fish in an aquarium with piranhas.

CLASS: Bony fishes

ORRDER: Carps, minnows and characins

FAMILY: Characins

LENGTH: 12 inches

DIET: fish and invertebrates

NUMBER OF EGGS: 5000

HOME: river system of the Amazon, Orinoco, and Parana