Piaractus
| Piaractus | ||||||||||||
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Piaractus brachypomus |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Piaractus | ||||||||||||
| Eigenmann , 1903 |
Piaractus is a genus of the saw tetra from tropical South America . The word meaning of the genus Piaractus comes from ancient Greek and means something like piar πιαρ - fat and aktos ἄκτος, - to carry, so fat carrier.
Systematics
The genus Piaractus consists of the three species:
- Piaractus brachypomus ( Cuvier , 1818)
- Piaractus mesopotamicus ( Holmberg , 1887)
- Piaractus orinoquensis Escobar et al., 2019
Piaractus was first described by Eigenmann in 1903. In 1951, Goslin separated the genus from the rest of the tetras due to the anatomy of its teeth, adipose fin and bone features. In 1961 Nelson discovered other characteristics such as the morphology of her swim bladder and features of the internal anatomy.
features
Piaractus is an original genus of the Sägesalmler, which differs from the genus Colossoma in that the front part of the swim bladder is smaller than the back and the swim bladder has only one muscle band. Further characteristics are six or more highly specialized teeth in the lower jaw main row, an anal fin with 28-30 fin rays.
distribution
While P. brachypomus inhabits the equatorial floodplains of the Amazon and Orinoco , P. mesopotamicus occurs endemically in the south of the continent in the river basin of the Rio Paraná and Río Paraguay . Both species are highly specialized and adapted to the ecological system of the floodplain forests and do not occur in the wild outside of this habitat. They do not occur in black water rivers like the Rio Negro .
Way of life
Both types show an omnivorous diet and are characterized by rapid growth. The Indian word " Pacu " from the Tupi language means something like fast eater. While they mostly feed on plankton when they are young , adults eat insects, nuts, fruits and seeds. Although P. brachypomus and P. mesopotamicus have the same eating habits, they occupy different ecological niches in the waters in which both are found. While P. brachypomus is mostly active early in the morning, P. mesopotamicus mainly feeds at dusk. During spawning time, the animals migrate to the upper reaches of the rivers to spawn in calm stretches of water. Long walks can be undertaken here. Special feeding techniques have been developed for keeping in aquaculture.
Economical meaning
Piaractus mesopotamicus are important edible fish that are kept in aquaculture. Furthermore, because of their high weights, both species are popular fishing fish even in countries where they were introduced as a foreign species. The species of the genus Piaractus also have a certain economic importance as ornamental fish in the aquarium trade . They are available under the names "vegetarian piranha", Pacu, Tambaqui, Pirapitinga or Silver Dollars. They are still exposed in many countries and as an invasive species they can cause damage to a foreign ecosystem .
Web links
- Species Identification between Piaractus brachypomus and mesopotamicus
- IABIN Red Interamericana de Información sobre Biodiversidad - Genus Piaractus
Notes and individual references
- ↑ Piaractus brachypomus (with etymology of Piaractus ) on Fishbase.org (English)
- ↑ Escobar, MD, Ota, RP, Machado-Allison, A., Farias, IP & Hrbek, T. (2019): A new species of Piaractus (Characiformes: Serrasalmidae) from the Orinoco Basin with a redescription of Piaractus brachypomus. Journal of Fish Biology, April 2019.
- ↑ a b angelfire.com
- ^ Günther Sterba: Freshwater fish of the world. Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1990, p. 121
- ↑ Facts about Pacu
- ↑ Ulrich Saint-Paul: Diurnal routine O2 consumption at different O2 concentrations by Colossoma macropomum and Colossoma brachypomum (Teleostei: Serrasalmidae). Comparative Biochemistry & Physiology, Volume 89, Elsevier, 1988 ( Abstract Online )
- ↑ Nutrition of Colossoma macropomum and Piaractus brachypomus
- ↑ LH Sipaúba-Tavares and FM de S. Braga: Study on Feeding Habits of Piraractus mesopotamicus (Pacu) larvae in fish ponds. In: Naga - The ICLARM Quarterly. Vol. 22, No. 1, 1999 ( online ; PDF file; 907 kB)
- ↑ Sharma VS Pullela: Aquaculture of Pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus). , Master of Science Thesis, University of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1997 ( Online ( Memento of the original dated August 30, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link accordingly Instructions and then remove this note .; PDF file; 342 kB)
- ↑ fishthailand.co.uk
- ↑ Facts about Pacu
