Talk:Piranha
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[edit] Article is Lacking
When I first found this article, it is very lacking in information when compared to other extant fauna. There's no taxobox nor is there binomial nomenclature. There's no information on possible multiple species of piranha. There's not even a mention of red-bellied piranha or an image of a piranha. Why has this page been ignored, when other fish have not? Ryulong 19:33, 16 March 2006 (UTC)
- This was due to obvious vandalism that was overlooked. I have fixed this now. Mgiganteus1 08:00, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Alleged danger to humans
I've requested a citation for the following excerpt:"Piranha fish do not have the same sensory system that enables sharks to detect blood in miniscule amounts, so it is not believed that swimming with an open cut would provoke an attack."
I think, that this excerpt and the whole section is too soft. For example, in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (3rd. ed.) is written (rough translation into English): "In huge shoals they attack any prey. Piranhas are attracted by splashes of water and the smell of blood. Particularly dangerous for the human are four species of large piranhas, two of which are well-known: ordinary piranha (Rooseveltiella nattereri) and big piranha (Pygocentrus piraya). After being placed into aquarium, they loose their aggressiveness". Is this info obsolete (please, cite your sources in your reply)? If not, then should this be included in some form into the article? Cmapm 13:20, 20 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Redirect from Serrasalminae should removed
I believe there should be a separate page for Serrasalminae -- it should not be redirected to piranha, since pacú are also in that subfamily.
In checking through the 69 species of pacú (note not all the fish listed on this page are pacú -- the search also includes common names including the letters p-a-c-u in their common name) on FishBase, I found that all pacú on FishBase.org are listed in the subfamily Serrasalminae. I therefore changed the subfamily in the pacú taxobox to Serrasalminae from Characinae.
The pacú relationship to piranha makes a little more sense that way too, but the redirect from Serrasalminae is now confusing.
--Renice 17:50, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
- I've removed the redirect and expanded the Serrasalminae page to point to the 3 general types denoted by their common names. --Renice 23:30, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Piranha Predators
Anyone know what exactly is a predator of pirahna? 69.166.47.185 04:06, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
Caiman, catfish and herons are all predators of piranha.207.200.116.65 00:00, 26 September 2006 (UTC)jade
No There Not Piranha Eat All Those Every Once In A While They May Eat A Dead Piranha But That Does Not Qualify Them To Be A Preadator24.178.196.124 20:31, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
- Wouldn't the other piranha in the school eat the dead one first? I've heard quite a lot that in addition to being predatory, piranha are also oppurtunistic scavengers and it seems to me that they wouldn't have any qualms about eating one of their fellows if he was already dead.
- I've also heard that some people in the Amazon hunt piranha - the fact that their teeth are said in this article to be "used in weapons and tools" would seem to lend some support to that - and thus I must ask if humans could be considered a predator of the piranha, or whether an exception is usually made in such things when it comes to human hunters. Runa27 16:34, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Why aren't these addressed?
Something that I didn't see being addressed in this article was the idea that piranha only hang out in fairly still water (and that locals only swim in running or swift-running water for this reason). Assuming this idea is correct, it should be pointed out; assuming it is correct for only select species of piranha, this should be pointed out; and assuming it is false, why is it not debunked? I can't remember where I first saw it, but I could swear I've been hearing and reading about it for years, so surely it's a reasonably notable concept regarding the piranha, yes?
Also, the piranha is such an infamous fish, why is its affect on both the local South American culture(s) and the foreign (including North American) culture, including pop culture, not examined or even really hinted at? I'm not saying EVERY piranha reference should be included, but surely there's SOMETHING of interest or something notable that could be included other than the fact that some locals use the teeth in tools and weapons? Runa27 16:34, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
