Serrasalmus maculatus
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| Serrasalmus maculatus | ||||||||||||
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Serrasalmus maculatus , drawing from the first description of the species by Rudolf Kner (1858) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Serrasalmus maculatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Kner , 1858) |
Serrasalmus maculatus , also known as Piranha Amarela or Pirambeba, also known as Ruby Red Piranha in English, is a species of saw tetra from tropical South America . Serrasalmus maculatus is probablynot a single species, but a complex of different, closely related species .
description
S. maculatus is very similar to S. spilopleura . Only the young fish can be clearly distinguished from one another. In contrast to S. spilopleura , S. maculatus has a hyaline band on the caudal fin and its pelvic fins have black tips. S. maculatus have a convex head shape and resemble the Pygocentrus group in their compact habitus . Your back has a strong golden to yellowish color and partly also orange, red or purple pigmentation. The fish are about 26 to 30 centimeters long.
distribution
The fish species was first described in the Rio Guaporé in Mato Grosso , Brazil . It also occurs in the catchment area of the Amazon , Paraná and Paraguay . They can be found in Argentina , Bolivia , Brazil , Colombia , Paraguay , Peru and Uruguay .
Way of life
S. maculatus lives in rivers, streams and lagoons. They prefer shaded areas with dense bank or underwater vegetation. They occur in small swarms of around 20 specimens that patrol a certain area. Larger specimens hunt from around 9 p.m. at night by lurking for prey in shallow bank areas in dense aquatic plants close to the ground . Young fish live near water hyacinths , which offer them protection and food. During floods and floods, the plants drift into other areas, which are then also colonized by S. maculatus . Adult specimens feed on pieces of fins and muscles from other fish species. However, it has also been reported to eat carcasses of mammals and human corpses that fell victim to the floods in some regions. Accidents with bathers who were bitten by S. maculatus , which were defending their breeding region , occurred time and again on dammed river sections in southeastern Brazil .
literature
- B. Freeman, LG Nico, M. Osentoski, HL Jelks and TM Collins: Molecular systematics of Serrasalmidae: Deciphering the identities of piranha species and unraveling their evolutionary histories , Zootaxa, 2007, 1484, pp. 1-38
Notes and individual references
- ↑ port. Yellow piranha
- ↑ Bignotto, TS, Maniglia, TC, Gomes, VN, Oliveira, IJ, Agostinho, CS, Prioli, SMAP & Prioli, AJ: Genetic evidence for a species complex within the piranha Serrasalmus maculatus (Characiformes, Serrasalmidae) from three Neotropical River basins based on mitochondrial DNA sequences. Genetics and Molecular Biology, Epub Aug 22, 2019. doi: 10.1590 / 1678-4685-gmb-2018-0131
- ↑ a b Serrasalmus maculatus on Fishbase.org (English)
- ↑ Ivan Sazima and Sérgio de Andrade Guimaraes: Scavenging on human corpses as a source for stories about man-eating piranhas , Environ. Biol. Fish, 1987, 20 (1): 75-77.
- ^ V. Haddad and I. Sazima: Piranha attacks on humans in southeast Brazil: epidemiology, clinics, and natural history, with description of a bite outbreak , Wild. Environ. Med, 2003, 14 (4), pp. 249-254.