Pirambeba
Pirambeba | ||||||||||||
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![]() Pirambeba ( Serrasalmus brandtii ) |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Serrasalmus brandtii | ||||||||||||
Luetken , 1875 |
The pirambeba ( Serrasalmus brandtii ) is a species of piranha that is native to tropical waters of South America. In English it is also called Lake Piranha, Brandtii Piranha, Green Piranha or White Piranha, in Portuguese Piranha Branca and in Spanish Caribito. Historically it was referred to as the “Real Pirambeba” when it was first spotted by European explorers in 1870. In the Tupí language , “pira” means fish and “peba” means flat.
description
The pirambeba can have a silver to golden color, which can also be slightly brown depending on the type of water. The pirambeba has silvery, highly iridescent scales on its flanks. The head shape is concave . The fins are either translucent or the same color as the body. While the eyes are silver, the anal fin is usually red and the caudal fin is dark or colored with a black border. It differs from other Serrasalmus species in the position of its anal fin. The maximum body length is 21 centimeters.
distribution
The Pirambeba was described from the Rio São Francisco basin in northeastern Brazil . From there only one other species of saw tetra, the piraya , is known. The main distribution known so far is in the middle and upper reaches as well as in tributaries such as the Rio Itapicurù, Rio Paraguia / Bahia and the Rio Jequitai / Minas Gerais . Meanwhile, however, evidence is also available in other waters.
Way of life
The Pirambeba prefers warm waters with temperatures of 24 to 30 ° C and a pH value of 5.5 to 7.5. The pirambeba has the typical behavior that it ambushes swimming past fish from a cover and bites off parts of their fins. Investigations between Serrasalmus brandtii and Pygocentrus nattereri from Lake Viana, a reservoir of the Rio Pindaré in the Brazilian state of Maranhão , aimed to analyze the eating habits of both fish species. The results showed that fish is their main diet followed by vegetable matter. Both species show highly opportunistic eating habits that vary with age and height. A comparison of the species Serrasalmus brandtii and Pygocentrus piraya showed that although both species mainly feed on fish, fish fins and crustaceans, the pirambeba has the greater plasticity in its eating habits than the piraya . The fish stay in different groups depending on their age, whereby young fish can form larger schools.
Relationship with people
In aquariums it has been observed that in the course of captivity it can shed its natural fear of people and, depending on the situation, shows aggressive behavior in some cases. In some reservoirs, such as B. the Lagoa de Prata in Pirapetinga / Minas Gerais or the Lago de Roseiras, there have been slight biting attacks on bathers who came too close. The pirambeba shows a strong instinct for brood care and therefore fends off all threats from supposed predators and brood predators. The bites of the fish are not fatal, but due to their sharp teeth lead to crater-shaped and poorly healing injuries.
Use
The pirambeba is fished regionally and exported as aquarium fish. As an ornamental fish, it is unsuitable for community aquariums because it bites off the fins of other fish. Due to its geographically very limited distribution area, however, the fish is relatively rarely on the market. Indios only rarely consume it, as it has many bones and only little meat in relation to the body. Since it often shows aggressive behavior and consumes the corpses laid out in the water, it is considered taboo for some Indian tribes to eat it.
literature
- E. Rizzo and N. Bazzoli: The pellucida zone of the Brazilian White Piranha, Serrasalmus brandtii Reinhardt 1874 (Pisces, Characidae): the cytochemical cytological and study. Func. Dev. Morphol., 1991, Vol. 1 (4), pp. 21-24
- CF Lütken: Velhas-Flodens Fiske. Et Bidrag til Brazil's Ichthyologi; efter Professor J. Reinhardts Indsamlinger og Optegnelser. K. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Skr., Raekke, 1875, 5 v. 12 (no. 2): 121-253, + 2 unnumbered, + I-XXI, pls. 1-5
- CF Lütken: Characinae novae Brasiliae centralis a clarissimo J. Reinhardt in provincia Minas-Geraes circa oppidulum Lagoa Santa in lacu ejusdem nominis, flumine Rio das Velhas et rivulis affluentibus collectae, secundum caracteres essentiales breviter descriptae. Overs. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Forhandl Kjobenhavn 1874 (no.3): 127-143. Nielsen, JG 1974, Fish types in the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen. Fish Types: 1-115
- AK Oliveira, M. Alvim, AC Peret et al .: Diet shifts related to body size of the pirambeba Serrasalmus brandtii Lütken, 1875 (Osteichthyes, Serrasalminae) in the Cajuru Reservoir, São Francisco River Basin, Brazil. Braz. J. Biol., Feb 2004, vol. 64, no.1, p. 117-124. ISSN 1519-6984
Notes and individual references
- ↑ Trans. White Piranha
- ↑ Small carib
- ↑ a b Pirambeba on Fishbase.org (English)
- ↑ a b c d e http://www.angelfire.com/biz/piranha038/brandtii.html
- ↑ a b c d http://www.piranha-info.com/default.php?lang=en&id=s_brandtii
- ^ “ The graphic analysis of the feeding strategies employed by P. nattereri and S. aff. brandtii suggest a generalist habit, wide width niche with strong participation of the within-phenotype component, which indicated that the majority of individuals of these species use several resources simultaneously . "
- ↑ Nivaldo Magalhaes Piorski, José De Ribamar Lima Alves, Monica Rejany Barros Machado and Maria Marlucia Ferreira Correia: Alimentação e Ecomorfologia de duas espécies de piranhas (Characiformes: Characidae) do Lago de Viana, estado do Maranhão, Brasil (Feeding of two. Ecomorphology) species of piranhas (Characiformes: Characidae) from the Viana Lake, Maranhão state, Brazil) on archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Márcia Emília de Jesus Trindade and Ricardo Jucá-Chagas: Diet of two serrasalmin species, Pygocentrus piraya and Serrasalmus brandtii (Teleostei: Characidae), along a stretch of the rio de Contas, Bahia, Brazil on [1]
- ↑ Peixes ataquam banhistas na Cidade de Lagoa de Prata
- ↑ Ataques de pirambebas alertam os bombeiros ( Memento from February 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive )