Talk:Piranha

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Trachurus symmetricus This article is part of WikiProject Fishes, an attempt to organise a detailed guide to all Fish taxa and related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the Portal, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. This project is an offshoot of the WikiProject Tree of Life

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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)


  • I do agree, not only is this article lacking it is way off the mark, and looks like the author was just making it up as he went along. i have been studing piranha for 5 years now, so here are my warrented complaints;

1. "In Venezuelan rivers they are called caribes" caribe is a type of pirahna sometimes confused with Pygocentrus nattereri "red belly p's" but can be seperated by the distinct black spot on the side of the head

2." Serrasalminae" wrong. Serrasalmus are the more agressive breed of p, and in no way are pacu or silver dollars catigorized under Serrasalmus

3. "They are normally about 15 to 25 cm long (6 to 10 inches)" different breeds of p warrant diffrent sizes. the black, or, Serrasalmus rhombus are the biggest reaching up to 18"

4. and there is no need to constantly or regurly change a p's diet, as long as its more than just gold fish, add in some night crawlers and shrimp and you'll have a healthy p.

here are some proper names for the diff. species:

Pygocentrus nattereri Pygocentrus cariba Pygocentrus piraya Serrasalmus altuvei Serrasalmus compressus Serrasalmus eigenmanni Serrasalmus elongatus Serrasalmus geryi Serrasalmus maculatus Serrasalmus manueli Serrasalmus medinai Serrasalmus rhombeus Serrasalmus sanchezi Serrasalmus spilopleura Pygopristis denticulata Pristobrycon striolatus Catoprion mento any questions about anything piranha related feel free to email me @ gesue@sprint.blackberry.net

[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)

That is what usually is printed about Piranhas, however, somewhere I think I have heard that the Piranha is in fact not as bloodthirsty as it is rumoured to be, and that stories about Piranhas eating swimmers in a matter of minutes are urban legends, but I have no sources on it. Could anyone with some information on this bring clarity into this question? Uhu219 15:31, 31 December 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)
Piranha are certainly canabalistic in captivity. In the wild this tendency would likely surface in times of food shortage though that is just an educated guess. And yes, despite their fearsome reputation they are prey to just about all the predators of fish their size in their range. Caimen, larger predatory fish, birds etc as mentioned. I think their range coincides with some otters who would certainly take them as of course does man as they are good eating. --LiamE 23:11, 16 December 2006 (UTC)
  • red tail cat fish

[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)

Piranha love moving water. They also are very happy to eat each other if the fish is physically compromised e.g. hooked by a fisherman.
The above comment was imbedded in mine as a response. For clarity's sake, I moved it, but did not change the content. Thank you for the answer, by the way! -user:Runa27, not signed in.

[edit] Semi-protection

Are you guys sure it's protected, because some IP just vandalized it. TeckWizTalkContribs@ 19:56, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

It's not. Incorrectly used template removed. Femto 20:27, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Disagreement

The statement made about feeding of piranhas is misguiding.

"Some owners suggest that in order to keep a piranha from only accepting one type of food, it is necessary to change types of food often. However, if the piranha is being fed goldfish, shrimp, or another type of nutritious food, the same thing may be given everyday."

First, any experienced piranha keeper will tell you that variation in the types of food being fed (fish, shrimp, clams, insects, even berries) is important for a balanced diet and a healthy piranha. A second point I would like to make is that it in piranha keeping circles the feeding of goldfish as the major staple in a piranhas diet is considered both unhealthy and dangerous due to the goldfish's propensity for carrying disease and parasites. So called "feeder" goldfish are sold for pennies at pet shops but often are housed in deplorable, overstocked tanks. Any live prey that is fed to a pet piranha should be quarantined before feeding. As a side note many, if not all members of the Cyprinid family, to which goldfish belong as well as minnows, carp and other popular aquarium fish, contain a hormone that inhibits thiamine production, which in turn is said to inhibit the growth of the predator. (searching for the reference). I suppose that some of this is a bit out of the scope of the article given its current state. If the "piranhas as pets" section were expanded a bit to include a bit more on piranhas as pets it would be important I think to have accurate (in so far as the current knowledge of piranhas nutritional needs allows) information on the feeding of these animals.Yurtle69 22:02, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

I corrected this in the article. -(User:runa27, not logged in)
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