Serrasalmus altuvei

Serrasalmus altuvei
Systematics
	Otophysa
Order :	Tetras (Characiformes)
Family :	Sägesalmler (Serrasalmidae)
without rank:	Piranhas
Genre :	Serrasalmus
Type :	Serrasalmus altuvei
Scientific name
	Serrasalmus altuvei
	Ramírez , 1965

Serrasalmus altuvei ( Spanish: Caribe Azul = blue piranha) is a species of saw tetra from tropical South America . It is apparently rare in the wild and rarely found in museum collections.

description

Serrasalmus altuvei is a small to medium-sized, high-backed and laterally strongly flattened piranha, which reaches a standard length of 17.3 cm. The back region is dark, the body silvery with numerous large, elongated spots. The sides of the head are yellowish silver. The unpaired fins are broadly lined with black. The dorsal fin (dorsal) has 16 to 19 rays, the anal fin (anal) 30 to 34 rays. A small adipose fin is present, its distal half is dark in color. The species has 36 to 38 vertebrae, 17 to 21 abdominal teeth ( serrae ) before the beginning of the pelvic fins and 7 to 8 abdominal teeth after the beginning of the pelvic fins. There are usually 75 (69 to 82) scales along the sidelines . The iris is red. The ectopterygoid is numerous in young animals (8 to 9), in very old animals the number is reduced.

distribution

S. altuvei occurs in the Orinoco and other clear water rivers of the Llanos in Venezuela .

Way of life

S. altuvei feeds omnivorously , but prefers fish as prey. Fins, scales, pieces of meat and whole small fish, plant components and insects as well as their eggs and larvae were found in the stomach of the species.

Notes and individual references

^ William L Fink, Antonio Machado-Allison: Serrasalmus hastatus, a new species of piranha from Brazil, with comments on Serrasalmus altuvei and Serrasalmus compressus (Teleostei: Characiformes). In: Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology University of Michigan, 2001, Volume: 730, pp. 1-18. ( Online ; PDF; 1.5 MB)
^ ^A ^b ^c Antonio Machado, Allison William Pink: Los peces caribes de Venezuela: diagnosis, claves y aspectos ecológicos y evolutivos. 1996, ISBN 9800009671 , p. 53.
^ ^A ^b R. E. Reis, SO Kullander, CJ Ferraris: Check list of the freshwater fishes of South and Central America. ISBN 8574303615 , p. 190.
^ ^A ^b Leo G. Nico, Donald C. Taphorn: Food Habits of Piranhas in the Low Llanos of Venezuela. In: Biotropica, Vol. 20, No. 4, Dec. 1988, p. 317. ( Online ; PDF; 424 kB)
↑ Márcia Emília de Jesus TrindadeI, 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. In: Neotropical Ichthyology, Vol. 6 No. 4, 2008. ( Online ; PDF; 756 kB)

Web links

Serrasalmus altuvei on Fishbase.org (English)

[Occasional-1] William L Fink, Antonio Machado-Allison: Serrasalmus hastatus, a new species of piranha from Brazil, with comments on Serrasalmus altuvei and Serrasalmus compressus (Teleostei: Characiformes). In: Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology University of Michigan, 2001, Volume: 730, pp. 1-18. ( Online ; PDF; 1.5 MB)

[peces_caribes-2] A ^b ^c Antonio Machado, Allison William Pink: Los peces caribes de Venezuela: diagnosis, claves y aspectos ecológicos y evolutivos. 1996, ISBN 9800009671 , p. 53.

[Check_list-3] A ^b R. E. Reis, SO Kullander, CJ Ferraris: Check list of the freshwater fishes of South and Central America. ISBN 8574303615 , p. 190.

[Biotropica-4] A ^b Leo G. Nico, Donald C. Taphorn: Food Habits of Piranhas in the Low Llanos of Venezuela. In: Biotropica, Vol. 20, No. 4, Dec. 1988, p. 317. ( Online ; PDF; 424 kB)

[Neotropical-5] Márcia Emília de Jesus TrindadeI, 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. In: Neotropical Ichthyology, Vol. 6 No. 4, 2008. ( Online ; PDF; 756 kB)