Piranhas

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Piranhas
Red piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri)

Red piranha ( Pygocentrus nattereri )

Systematics
Cohort : Otomorpha
Sub-cohort : Ostariophysi
Otophysa
Order : Tetras (Characiformes)
Family : Sägesalmler (Serrasalmidae)
without rank: Piranhas

Among the Piranhas [ piranja ] ( Tupi-Guarani , consisting of Pirá for "fish" and anha five are for "tooth") fish genera from the family of Sägesalmler (Serrasalmidae) counted. They are mostly predatory fish found in the tropical fresh waters of South America .

Piranhas are mostly high-backed schooling fish with very sharp teeth, flattened on the sides . The dorsal fin is often relatively long. They reach a size of about 15 to 40 centimeters.

Piranhas have a distinctive swarming behavior. Panic reactions and stress could be detected in individual animals, while piranhas in the group show these phenomena only to a small extent, even in the vicinity of an enemy.

The life expectancy of piranhas is around 15 years. However, piranhas kept in the aquarium can even live to be over 30 years old.

Systematics

Originally all piranhas were assigned to the genus Serrasalmus . The five piranha genera that exist today form a monophyletic clade within the Sägesalmler (Serrasalmidae) , which, however, was only recently recognized and does not yet have a scientific name.

Genera and species

Pennant piranha ( Catoprion sp.)
Piraya ( Pygocentrus piraya )
Pygopristis denticulata
Serrasalmus elongatus
Serrasalmus marginatus
Serrasalmus rhombeus
Pygocentrus nattereri

The relationships between the individual genera are shown in the following cladogram . The sister group of piranhas is the genus Metynnis .



 Metynnis


  Piranhas  


 Pristobrycon


   

 Pennant piranha ( Catoprion mento )


   

 Pygopristis




   

 Pygocentrus


  Serrasalmus  

 Clade B 1 ( S. brandtii, S. maculatus, S. manueli, S. medinai )


   

Clade  B 2 ( S. compressus, S. geryi, S. hastatus, S. hollandi, S. marginatus, S. rhombeus, S. sanchezi )


   

 Clade B 3 ( S. eigenmanni, S. gouldingi, S. elongatus, S. spilopleura, S. serrulatus )







Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

distribution

Distribution of the three Pygocentrus species
Distribution of the Serrasalmus species

The range of the piranhas extends from the Orinoco in the north of South America to the subtropical areas of the Río Paraguay in the south.

Of the currently around 40 known species, 25 are native to the Amazon basin , 16 live in the Orinoco region , 9 are found in the Guyanas rivers , 3 in the Paraguay - Paraná region and only 2 in the Rio São Francisco . Some species are very widespread spatially, while others only occur locally.

Often several species can be found in the same body of water at the same time, it does not matter whether it is flowing or standing water. Seven different types of piranha have been observed in the Cano Maporal, a small river in Venezuela .

Piranhas as aquarium fish are sometimes released into foreign waters, for example they were caught as "exotic species" in the Hamburg Alster as well as in the Rhineland river Erft , which is fed by warm groundwater, the so-called swamp water from lignite mining.

In the United States, the release of piranhas is prohibited by law, as the animals could establish themselves in the warm waters of Florida or Texas. In 1977 it was observed that piranhas of the species Serrasalmus humeralis reproduced in some waters of Florida. This species can tolerate water temperatures as low as 11 ° C. As a result, these non-native fish populations were destroyed with Rotenone .

habitat

Most piranha species live in the white water rivers of South America. White water rivers are very nutrient-rich rivers, light colored loam water rivers with fine suspended mineral content ( fine silt and clay ), the color ranges from milky yellow-gray or reddish-brownish through tropical red loam and washed out laterite soils. The mass of the water body of a white water or clay water river is dark or completely lightless. In the edge zones of the Várzeas , the turbid substances settle so that the sunlight can penetrate several meters and heat the water to temperatures between 26 and 30 ° C. Thus, the growth of aquatic plants is possible, animal food chains arise, at the top of which are piranhas as predatory fish. Typical white water rivers are the Amazon , Rio Solimões , Río Paraguay and Rio Paraná , in which the largest distribution of piranha species can be found.

In black water rivers , which are characterized by heavy clouding of organic material and humic substances, such as the Rio Negro , piranhas usually only occur in mixed water zones, where white water flows from tributaries into the main stream.

Nutrient- rich clear water rivers such as the Rio Xingu or Rio Tapajós , which are very species-rich due to their strong sunlight penetration, usually only have larger piranha populations in the mixed water zone with white water rivers. Piranhas are usually only found in the murky mouth areas where white water mixes with clear water.

Swarms of piranha are increasingly found in slow-flowing river areas, in dead river arms or stagnant waters that are only periodically connected to the main stream during floods.

A strong increase in the piranha population can be observed in dammed river areas.

hunt

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Lower jaw of
Pygocentrus nattereri
Red piranha

It is often observed that smaller herds of pirambeba ( Serrasalmus brandtii ) follow the larger swarms of piranha in the rivers and eat the waste products of the predatory fish. They primarily hunt fish and crustaceans, but also attack larger vertebrates, especially when they are densely populated, as their sharp teeth allow them to tear pieces of meat out of their prey. The piranha first fixes the prey, then shoots at it and bites. Then comes the shaking movement (as with sharks) to loosen the piece of meat. Finally he moves away from the prey and swallows.

In their homeland they take on the role of the "health police" to a certain extent. Thus the piranhas fulfill an important function in favor of the ecological balance, because by destroying animal carcasses dangerous epidemics are prevented.

The aggressive behavior of the animals is notorious. However, it has to be said that the dangerousness of animals shown in adventure novels and films is grossly exaggerated.

The natural enemies of piranhas include Amazon dolphins , caimans , birds of prey, large predatory fish such as the arapaima , giant otters or, for an injured animal, their own conspecifics.

Breeding behavior

Piranhas practice intensive brood care. In cloudy white water, for example, the spawn is often deposited between aquatic plants, sometimes just below the surface of the water at the roots of the water hyacinths . After the spawning process has ended, the male usually takes over the defense and care of the clutch and the larvae. Brood care ends when the young fish are able to swim.

Prejudice and legend building

Piranha (close-up)

The origins of the diverse and widespread prejudices regarding piranhas can be traced back to the first explorers and discoverers who traveled to South America; Alexander von Humboldt , who first described Pygocentrus cariba in 1821, summarized his characterization as follows:

“ Near San Fernando on the Rio Apure. In the morning our Indians caught the fish with a fishing rod, which is called Caribe or Caribito in this country. It attacks people while bathing and swimming and often bites off handsome pieces of meat. If you are only slightly injured at the beginning, it is difficult to get out of the water without suffering severe wounds. If you pour a few drops of blood into the water, they come up by the thousands . "

- Alexander von Humboldt on his journey through Venezuela

About 100 years later, the former US President Theodore Roosevelt made a similar statement about the piranhas in his 1914 report on his expedition through the Brazilian rainforest: “ They tear and devour every injured person and animal while they are alive; for blood in the water makes them frenzy. “ Herbert R. Axelrod reports that the Brazilian ichthyologist Miranda-Ribeiro offered the American president a special spectacle on his 1913 trip through the Mato Grosso . In the Rio Theodore Roosevelt, specifically named after him, a tributary of the Rio Aripuanã , which belongs to the river system of the Rio Madeira , a section of the river was cordoned off with nets and stocked with countless red piranhas caught by fishermen . An injured cow was driven into this separated stretch of water and attacked by the thousands of piranhas who had panicked due to the unfamiliar confinement. She was bitten in the leg, then fell over and was finally skeletonized by the predatory fish. Impressed by this bloody spectacle, he had this type of piran hair named Serrasalmus roosevelti (now Pygocentrus nattereri ). This completely falsified representation of the predatory behavior of piranhas went through the US press and contributed significantly to the creation of legends.

The scientist Philip Street wrote in 1971 in his work The Weapons of Animals :

“ The human shark and the barracuda are terrifying creatures, but when it comes to frenzied wildness and danger to humans, nothing that swims in the sea equals a small fish that lives in the rivers of South America. That's the piranha. It is rightly regarded as an ogre, although its length rarely exceeds 17.5 cm and 25 cm is a record. Death by the shark or barracuda is usually quick and, compared to the piranha, downright gracious. Any human or animal who is unfortunate enough to fall into the river in a place plagued by this bloodthirsty fish is literally eaten alive, hundreds appear out of nowhere, and the victim's flesh is eaten in tens of thousands of small bites, Until nothing remains but the naked skeleton. The gruesome work is short. In a recent investigation, the carcass of a 400-pound pig was lowered into a river that was known to be teeming with piranhas. After 10 minutes only the bones were left. As small as it is, the piranha has incredibly sharp teeth, with which it can bite through a finger and bone at once. Usually the piranha is a leisurely fish, but the appearance of the victim seems to drive it into a kind of frenzy, and it is not hunger alone that drives it. Long after they have eaten their fill, they continue their furious attacks until there is not the slightest bit of meat left; the debris piles up at the bottom of the river until the current washes it away. No living being escapes their attention, not even one of their own species, and it is impossible to keep more than one of them in an aquarium . "

Jan H. Mol investigated accidents between piranhas and humans in Suriname in 2006 . Three regions of the Suriname and Wayambo rivers were examined and it turned out that most of the victims were children who had been bitten in the feet by larger, isolated specimens of the Serrasalmus rhombeus while bathing . Multiple fish attacks on humans were very rare. Bite attacks were only sporadic and the victim was not followed up.

It was characteristic that almost all attacks took place during the dry season and in areas of water contaminated by leftover food, fish waste and blood.

The reports of the Spanish conquistadors about piranhas tell of biting attacks during the jungle fights with Indian warriors, on the one hand by the blood of the fallen in the water, on the other hand by the red legwear of the European conquerors. Some species of piranha react aggressively to the color red.

A heavily overused picture is the sick cattle, which when crossing a river in the Orinoco or Amazon region always has to be sacrificed to the piranhas in order to distract the predatory fish from the rest of the herd. The multitude of bodies of water and the poverty of the cattle herders prove the absurdity of this idea.

In a settlement of the "Ribeirinhos" (fishermen living on houseboats) there was a fatal accident when a toddler fell into the water while his mother was gutting fish nearby and the blood and fish scales caused the piranhas to eat displaced. Especially towards the end of the dry season in September and October the piranhas are locally feared.

In fact, injuries with piranhas mostly do not occur in, but rather out of the water, for example when attempts are made to improperly loosen a captured piranha from the fish hook.

particularities

Piranhas in the zoo

A special characteristic of the piranhas is their extremely fast wound healing. This is particularly advantageous for the piranhas, as they often injure each other when they attack prey. Even if the caudal and dorsal fins have been bitten, they grow back completely within a short time.

The keeping of piranhas is prohibited in the United States to prevent spreading into native waters . Unlike the United States, the Piranha is in South America revered (see below) and lovingly Carabito or Caribe called, which as much as Cannibal means.

Others

Grilled piranha
  • The danger of piranhas for humans is very controversial and by no means proven. The native Indians of South America bathe without hesitation in waters that also contain piranhas.
  • The piranha is a popular food fish among various South American natives .
  • It is customary for some indigenous Indian tribes to bury only the skeletons of the dead. To do this, the deceased are hung on a rope in the water for a short time to serve as carrion food for the piranhas.
  • Piranhas are very disease resistant, so they can easily eat sick animals, which underscores their important role in their habitat's ecosystem .

literature

  • Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
  • Wolfgang Staeck: Piranhas in nature and the aquarium - poetry and truth. In: Aquaristik Current freshwater practice. No. 3, Dähne, Ettlingen 2007, p. 66, ISSN  1863-1282 .
  • Kai Arendt: Two fin-eating piranhas from southern South America. In: Aquaristik Fachmagazin. No. 191, October / November, Tetra, Berlin / Velten 2006, ISSN  1437-4854 .
  • Hans Gonella: Fascination Piranha. Bede bei Ulmer, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-8001-6754-8 . (First edition Ruhmannsfelden 1995, ISBN 3-927997-76-5 )
  • Wolfgang Schulte: Piranhas. Interesting facts about ecology, behavior, care and breeding, In: Lehrmeister-Bücherei. 3rd, revised edition. Landbuch Hannover 1995, ISBN 3-7842-1114-3 .
  • U. Saint-Paul, J. Zuanon, M. Correa, M. Garcia, N. Fabre: Fish Communities in Central Amazonian White- and Blackwater Floodplains. In: Environmental Biology of Fishes. 57, 2000, pp. 235-250.
  • I. Sazima, F. Machado: Underwater Observations of Piranhas in Western Brazil. In: Environmental Biology of Fishes. 28, 1990, pp. 17-31.
  • W. Fink: Revision of the Piranha Genus Pygocentrus (Teleostei, Characiformes). In: Copeia. 3, 1993, pp. 665-686.
  • M. Uetanabaro, T. Wang, A. Abe: Breeding Behavior of the Red-Bellied Piranha Pygocentrus nattereri, in Nature. In: Environmental Biology of Fishes. 38, 1993, pp. 369-371.
  • B. Plaster: Pygocentrus nattereri. Animal Diversity Web (accessed September 21, 2007)
  • Vidal Haddad jr., Ivan Sazima: Piranha Attacks on Humans in Southeast Brazil. Epidemiology, Natural History, and Clinical Treatment, with Description of a Bite Outbreak. In: Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. 14, No. 4, 2003, pp. 249-254.
  • M. Bates: South America. Flora and fauna. Time Life International, 1976.
  • JI Cabrera: La Piranha. E pez más voraz también sirve de alimento de hombre. Geo Mundo, Caracas 1979.
  • RM Fox: Attack Preferences of the Red-bellied Piranha. no year
  • F. Mago-Leccia: Los peces de agua dulce de Venezuela. Caracas 1978.
  • GS Meyers: The Piranha Book. Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine, New Jersey, 1972.
  • M. Stuppi: Piranha - a killer fish? In: DATZ. 1979.

Web links

Commons : Sägesalmler / Piranha  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ pirá on de.glosbe.com
  2. ↑ anha on maniadehistoria.wordpress.com/mini-dicionario-tupi-guarani
  3. ^ A b B. Freeman, LG Nico, M. Osentoski, HL Jelks, TM Collins: Molecular systematics of Serrasalmidae. Deciphering the identities of piranha species and unraveling their evolutionary histories. In: Zootaxa . No. 1484 . Magnolia Press, May 28, 2007, ISSN  1175-5334 , pp. 1–37 ( online version of the article (PDF; 1.2 MB) [accessed on February 6, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Mateussi, NTB, Melo, BF & Oliveira, C. (2020): Molecular delimitation and taxonomic revision of the wimple piranha Catoprion (Characiformes: Serrasalmidae) with the description of a new species. Journal of Fish Biology, June 2020, doi: 10.1111 / jfb.14417
  5. ↑ Pristobrycon on Fishbase.org (English)
  6. ↑ Pygocentrus on Fishbase.org (English)
  7. ↑ Pygopristis denticulata on Fishbase.org (English)
  8. ↑ Serrasalmus on Fishbase.org (English)
  9. ↑ angelfire.com
  10. ↑ N. Hubert, F. Duponchelle, J. Nunez, C. Garcia-Davila, D. Paugy, J.-F. Renno: Phylogeography of the piranha genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus : implications for the diversification of the Neotropical ichthyofauna. In: Molecular Ecology. (2007) 16, pp. 2115-2136. doi: 10.1111 / j.1365-294X.2007.03267.x
  11. ↑ AW Thompson, R. Betancur-R., H. López-Fernández, G. Ortí: A time-calibrated, multi-locus phylogeny of piranhas, pacus, and allies (Characiformes: Serrasalmidae) and a comparison of species tree methods. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 2014.
  12. ↑ Piranhas in the Alster ( Memento from February 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ^ Erftverband, Bergheim
  14. ↑ Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants ( Memento of February 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ Wolfgang Schulte: Piranhas, interesting facts about behavior, care and breeding. 1982.
  16. ↑ Piranhas and Pirambebas - the hyenas and jackals of the rivers of South America at www.aqualog.de
  17. ↑ Alexander von Humboldt: South American trip. Ullstein, 1976, ISBN 3-7934-1230-X .
  18. ^ Theodore Roosevelt: Through the Brazilian Wilderness. 1914, Indypublish.com, ISBN 1-4142-9978-8 .
  19. ^ Theodore Roosevelt: Through the Brazilian Wilderness. New York 1914, quoted from Herbert R. Axelrod: Breeding Aquarium Fishes. Book 4. TFH, Neptune City / NJ 1976, pp. 79-87.
  20. ↑ Philip Street: The Weapons of Animals. 1971, ISBN 3-8052-0216-4 .
  21. ↑ Attacks on humans by the piranha Serrasalmus rhombeus in Suriname. Center for Agricultural Research in Suriname (CELOS) and Department of Biology, University of Suriname, Suriname
  22. ↑ tvthrong.co.uk