piranha

[prettygoodword]

piranha (pi-RAH-nuh, pi-RA-nuh, pi-RAH-nyuh) - n., any of several omnivorous South American freshwater fish of subfamily Serrasalminae, especially genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus with very sharp teeth and a strong bite.


The best known being the red-bellied piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri), which is sometimes kept as an aquarium fish:


Thanks, WikiMedia!

Diet consists largely of fish, but most species will also opportunistically eat plants/fruit/animals that enter the water. Reports of schools of piranhas attacking cattle and humans are greatly exaggerated, but they do happen. (That they are attracted to blood in the water is outright myth.) The exact number of species is still being worked out (complicated by new species being described every so often) but appears to be between 30 and 60. The name is via Portuguese piranha (or possibly Spanish piraña) from Old Tupi pirã́nʸa/pirãîa, literally "fish (with) teeth." Which, fair.

---L.

Comments

[lilysea]

Apparently the story about stripping a cow was the result of humans deliberately creating artificial conditions:

"When former US president Theodore Roosevelt visited Brazil in 1913, he went on a hunting expedition through the Amazon Rainforest. While standing on the bank of the Amazon River, he witnessed a spectacle created by local fishermen. After blocking off part of the river and starving the piranhas for several days, they pushed a cow into the water, where it was quickly torn apart and skeletonized by a school of hungry piranhas. Roosevelt later described piranhas as vicious creatures in his 1914 book Through the Brazilian Wilderness."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piranha#Attacks

[dewline]

Well, then. Leave them be, and they'll leave us be, right?

[prettygoodword]

🤦🏼‍♂️

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

One of the first field trips I remember was to the zoo and a group of Bad Boys threw a chicken leg into the piranha tank (which had a glass side). I have never forgotten the scene.

[prettygoodword]

I can understand why.