Piaractus mesopotamicus
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Piaractus mesopotamicus |
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| ( Holmberg , 1887) |
Piaractus mesopotamicus , port .: Piraí , Pez Chato , Pacú-Caranha or Pacu Branco , English: Small-Scaled Pacu is a large species of saw tetra from tropical South America . It is slightly smaller than the other member of the genus Piaractus brachypomus .
distribution
Piaractus mesopotamicus is native to the La Plata river basin, mainly in the Río Paraguay and Río Paraná in Brazil , Argentina , Bolivia , Paraguay and Uruguay , within the latitudes 15 ° S - 38 ° S and 66 ° E - 42 ° E. Today it occurs in many of the larger rivers in southern and central Brazil. It is now kept in aquacultures in tropical countries around the world.
description
P. mesopotamicus has a dark gray to silver color on the sides and back, sometimes with black spots. It is colored white on the belly and has a yellow chest area. Its body shape is robust, compact and laterally compressed. The strongly developed head area with the strong molars is characteristic. The fish grows to an average of 40 to 50 centimeters long and weighs three to seven kilograms, only in exceptional cases up to 20 kilograms. The largest reported Piaractus mesopotamicus weighed 10.21 kilograms and was caught in 2008 in the Bolivian Río Tarija . Large specimens have also been reported from the Thai fishing lake Bung Sam Lam, where the species was used. Tambacu is the name in Brazil for the hybrid of the cross of Colossoma macropomum and Piaractus mesopotamicus .
Way of life
P. mesopotamicus lives mainly near the ground, Pez Chato and still tolerates low oxygen levels of 0.5 mg / l. If there is an acute lack of oxygen, he can take in oxygen from the surface of the water for a while by gasping for breath. His diet is omnivorous . Young fish feed mainly on small animals such as crabs, etc., while adult specimens eat insects and plant food such as leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. During floods, it penetrates the floodplain forests and feeds on nuts and seeds that fall into the water. It has been observed that P. mesopotamicus kept in ponds and aquaculture reaches final weights of only ten kilograms, but in natural habitats up to 18 kilograms. This is explained by the variety of food available at different times of the year. The fish are sexually mature after about four years. In Paraná it undertakes long migrations into the upper reaches of the river system during spawning time . He is hindered on his hiking trails by the large hydroelectric systems and reservoirs, such as the Itaipú dam. Under natural conditions, a five-kilogram Rogner is able to produce 0.5 to 1 million eggs. The natural reproduction of P. mesopotamicus in the river basin of the Rio Cuiabá at the foothills of the Pantanal in southwestern Brazil was examined. The size and composition of the sexes varied in the main stream (spawning period October to March) and in the floodplain forests in the study region.
Piaractus mesopotamicus as a neozoon
Similar to Piaractus brachypomus , P. mesopotamicus was introduced as a food fish in numerous countries such as Thailand , Guam , Saipan , Hawaii , Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands . In the USA it has partly spread in the warm waters of Florida .
Economical meaning
P. mesopotamicus is of great economic importance as a food fish because of the quality of its meat and because of its rapid growth rates (on average 1.2-1.5 kilograms p. A.) And is kept in pond farming and aquaculture worldwide. Often together with cichlids and catfish. In Brazil in particular, the potential of keeping Pacus in aquaculture is to be further advanced. In addition, P. mesopotamicus is a popular sport fish.
Notes and individual references
- ↑ a b c d e f Piaractus mesopotamicus on Fishbase.org (English)
- ↑ See flat fish
- ↑ Trans. White Pacu
- ↑ a b c d e f Sharma VS Pullela: Aquaculture of Pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) and a comparison of its quality: microbiological, sensory and proximate composition. ( Online ( Memento of the original from 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 according to the instructions and then remove this note .; PDF; 350 kB)
- ↑ World Fishing Records Piaractus mesopotamicus
- ↑ http://www.fishthailand.co.uk/species/pacu.html
- ↑ Tambaqui ( Colossoma macroponum ) x Pacú ( Piaractus mesopotamicus )
- ↑ See flat fish
- ↑ 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; 929 kB)
- ^ AA Agostinho, LC Gomes, HI Suzuki, H. Ferreira Júlio Jr .: Migratory fishes of the Upper Paraná River basin, Brazil. Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura (Nupelia). Universidade Estadual de Maringá. Maringá, Paraná, Brazil, 2003, The World Bank, International Development Center
- ↑ Rosa Maria Rodrigues da Costa, Lúcia Aparecida de Fátima Mateus: Reproductive biology of pacu Piaractus mesopotamicus (Holmberg, 1887) (Teleostei: Characidae) in the Cuiabá River Basin, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Neotropical Ichthyology, Porto Alegre, 2009 ( Online )
- ↑ Leo Nico and Bill Loftus: Piaractus mesopotamicus, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL., 2012
- ↑ Coloration of Tambacu Meat piaractus mesopotamicus x colossoma macropomum Eviscerated and stored on Ice in different periods. [1]
- ↑ Julio F. Queiroz et al. : Aquaculture in Brazil: Research priorities and potential for further international collaboration. ( Online ; PDF; 660 kB)
Web links
- Sharma VS Pullela: Aquaculture of Pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) and a comparison of its quality: microbiological, sensory and proximate composition. MSc Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, 1997 ( Online ; PDF; 350 kB)