Interesting facts about piranhas. Piranha fish - the scourge of South America A flock of piranhas

Piranha(Serrasalminae) is a carp-like predatory fish of the characin family.

Description of Piranha:

Piranhas are 30 cm long and weigh almost 1 kilogram. Mature piranha - big fish, with a silver-olive color and a red or purple tint. There is a black border along the ends of the caudal fin. Growing piranhas have a silvery color, with black spots on their sides. The anal and ventral fins are red in color.

The lower jaw and powerful teeth enable these fish to tear large chunks of flesh from the victim. The teeth of piranhas look like a triangle 4-5 mm high. They are placed in such a way that the teeth of the upper jaw fit directly into the slots between the teeth lower jaw. The jaws of these fish act like this: when the jaws close, the flesh is instantly cut off by sharp teeth. When moving in different directions with closed jaws in a horizontal position, piranhas are able to grab large areas of food - veins and bones. A mature piranha can easily bite off a person's finger or bite through a strong stick.

Fish are quite voracious and in their natural habitat can attack any fish and animals, even those that are several times larger than them. Even crocodiles are afraid of these predators. It is also interesting that sometimes piranhas can act as cannibals and eat their wounded comrades.

Piranha Habitat:

Caring for Piranhas:

Piranhas are schooling fish and for their normal maintenance you need at least 7-10 individuals. Without their relatives, they quickly become depressed.

You can put your hand into an aquarium with well-fed piranhas. But if you have bleeding cuts and wounds, then do not do this. And in general, it’s better not to risk putting your hand into an aquarium with these predators. Piranhas can, in principle, be kept in the same aquarium with other characion fish, under one condition - constant and regular nutrition.

Interestingly, although piranhas are the most dangerous predators on earth, they are nevertheless very timid. It is better to keep the aquarium where the piranhas live from shadows and noise, otherwise these critters may faint from fright. Sometimes, even making a sudden movement near the aquarium is enough to scare them away.

Of particular interest is the feeding process of these fish. Calm and graceful while swimming, sensing food, they are the only ones who immediately pounce on it. Piranhas need to be fed meat.

Reproduction of Piranhas:

The water for dilution is as follows: temperature 26-28°C, hardness dH up to 6.0°; pH 6.5. Reproduction is done by pituitary injections. The main thing is to feed the fish often with a variety of foods. The aquarium should be spacious, from 300 liters or more. It is best to plant a group of piranhas for breeding; there should be more males than females. When excited, fish turn black and blue in color.

You can start feeding the fry with artemia. It is important to sort them by size frequently, otherwise more large fry can eat small ones.

A spawning tank is needed for 300 liters of water or more. It is worth planting a group of fish for spawning, and there should be more males. When excited, fish turn blue-black. Feeding the fry is not difficult.

Main types of Piranha:

There are species of piranha that feed on vegetation (Colossoma macropomum). They clear water bodies of vegetation. Small species of these toothy fish are specially bred for aquariums, in which they cease to be aggressive.

These fish got their name from ancient language Guarani: “pira” - which means fish and “ania” - devil, demon, fangs, teeth.

Piranhas are such toothy creatures that make you fall in love with them. They evoke great sympathy, despite their terrifying appearance.

In most countries where they live, they tried to destroy piranhas. But they are quite tenacious.

Piranhas, like wolves, represent a kind of orderlies of nature - they kill old, sick and weak fish and animals. But in any case, if you keep these fish, be careful.

Piranhas are dangerous and very voracious fish. Their existence is shrouded in all sorts of frightening myths and legends; they even appear as heroes of horror films. It is believed that even crocodiles avoid these bloodthirsty monsters. Piranha belongs to the characin genus.

This is quite strange, since it also includes “peaceful” tetras, neons, and minors. They are similar to our cyprinids. However, piranhas have more than 50 species and most of them are not at all aggressive and feed on algae. The size of fish depends on their diet. So, herbivores grow up to a meter in length and weigh quite a bit, carnivores are usually no more than 30 cm.

They are found in the fresh waters of South America, usually at the mouth of rivers such as the Amazon, Orinoco, and La Plata. It can also be seen in other bodies of water near Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Small colonies can be observed in the area Mexico, USA, Europe.

Young fish are very aggressive and go in search of prey in schools. Adults prefer solitude and hunt while standing at their “post”, waiting for unwary fish. The other part of the time they hide in a shelter.

Piranhas have the nickname "underwater wolves" because they river orderlies. Both camps are beneficial - herbivores clear the rivers of excess vegetation and trees that have fallen into the reservoir, carnivores remove all carrion. Where there are piranhas, the water does not contain pollution or decomposition.

Appearance of the fish

The piranha's body is flat, round, laterally compressed. The dorsal and anal fins are elongated, the tail is wide, eyes are bulging and large. The color depends on what species it belongs to, as well as on nutrition. Olive-gray-green and dark blue colors often predominate in the upper part, light piranha on the side With silver-gray tint.

The lower fins and belly are mostly reddish in color. The tip of the tail is edged with a black line. Young fish can be distinguished from adult fish by dark spots on the sides, which disappear over time.

Home distinctive feature are her jaws. They are not found in nature anywhere else.

1. The length of triangular teeth reaches 5 mm. They are plate-like, slightly curved inward, and incredibly sharp. Therefore, they easily deal with the victim, tearing it into pieces or cutting off pieces of flesh from it. Can handle even small sticks and bones.
2. The jaw is unique. When it is compressed, the upper and lower teeth enter the sinuses, creating a lot of pressure. Its action can be compared to a trap.
3. The grip strength is measured at 320 newtons, which has no analogues in the animal world. The pressure created by the closing jaws exceeds its weight by 30 times.
4. An adult can easily deprive a person of a finger. Local residents living near ponds with piranhas have adapted to use their jaws with teeth like scissors, and they shave with their teeth.

Now you have an idea of ​​what a piranha looks like. This fish reproduces by laying eggs. This period lasts from March to August. During spawning, the female lays thousands of eggs, which are then guarded by the male.

Features of piranhas

In addition to the amazing structure of its jaws, this fish is also distinguished by ability to make sounds. For example, once on land, it barks like a dog, during lunch it can demonstrate “playing the drum”, in order to scare away its own it uses “croaking”, and when approaching another individual, the fish croaks.

Scientists have found that she produces all the variety of sounds thanks to her swim bladder, which she contracts with muscles. The sound produced depends on the speed at which they are compressed.

Piranha's excellent hearing and sense of smell. The victim, once at a distance of more than 6 km, will no longer be saved, since he was smelled by a drop of blood.

Piranha's enemies

This small fish is not capable of frightening either individuals larger than it in size, or large predators, who, however, themselves became their victims. But these fish still have enemies:

In the waters of Europe and Russia, you can increasingly find piranhas. This is not a joke of nature, but the fault of inexperienced aquarists who, having failed to care for the fish, decide to release it into the wild.

Europeans and Russians have nothing to fear, since fish does not live in cold waters When winter comes, they will all die. The temperature that is comfortable for their stay is between 24 and 27 degrees.

Piranha is a fish that can easily adapt to new living conditions. She feels great in an aquarium, which is why many people try to breed her. At the same time, do not forget about taste preferences, because the fish is predatory.

She is needed feed correctly, the diet is dominated by small fish, such as sprat and capelin. Don't forget about safety precautions.

Is this predatory fish edible?

This fish is very voracious. There are many stories that characterize this feature. For example, there is a known case with a pig that fell into the water, when the flock gnawed it to the bone in a matter of minutes. Often the victims themselves are fishermen who want to feast on piranhas.

They get caught because fish meat is edible, resembles a perch. Used more often in fried. Fishing takes place with a fishing rod, but the fisherman must be very careful, since the fish can snatch off his finger.

So, we can conclude that piranha is an animal necessary for a favorable ecological state of nature, the extermination of which will lead to imbalance when there is a high chance of outbreaks of epidemics and infections in water bodies.

Piranhas are monsters from horror films and scary stories, small but bloodthirsty inhabitants of the waters of the Amazon and other rivers in South America (Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina). What do we know about them? Probably nothing. After all, all knowledge is limited to just one species - the ordinary piranha, which has gained notoriety.

The Piranha family includes slightly more than 60 species of fish. And, oddly enough, most of them are herbivores; they practically do not eat animal food. The size of piranhas depends on the species, carnivores generally reach 30 cm, and their vegetarian relatives can gain significant weight and grow more than one meter in length. The color also depends on the species, but is mainly silver-gray, becoming darker with age. The body shape is diamond-shaped and tall, laterally compressed. The main food for predators is a variety of piranhas that can also feed on animals or even birds that they meet along the way. For herbivorous species The Amazon and its tributaries abound in various vegetation; these fish do not disdain nuts and seeds that fall into the water.

Jaw structure

Piranhas are characterized by an amazing structure of the jaw apparatus, which perhaps has no analogues in nature. Everything is provided in it down to the finest detail. The teeth, triangular in shape and measuring 4-5 mm, are lamellar and sharp, like a razor blade, slightly curved inward. This allows them to easily cut through the flesh of the victim, tearing off pieces of meat. In addition, the upper and lower teeth fit perfectly into the sinuses when the jaw is closed, creating a strong pressure. This feature allows piranhas to bite through bones. When closed, the jaws close like a trap. According to the latest research by scientists, the bite force is 320 newtons and has no analogues in the animal world. When a piranha's jaws bite, it exerts about 30 times its weight in pressure.

Where do piranhas live?

These are inhabitants of freshwater bodies of water in South America. The Amazon basin contains a fifth of the entire fresh water, this river is full of a variety of fish. Piranhas live along the entire length of the river and are the subject of many legends and stories of local residents. occupies vast territories, most of which belongs to Brazil, but also to Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru. Piranhas also feel great in other rivers; their habitat area on the South American continent is very large.

IN Lately V home care and this fish has become very popular in breeding. A piranha in an aquarium will grow smaller than its natural size and will lose some of its aggressiveness. Surprisingly, with such a threatening appearance, they become timid in confined spaces and often hide in artificial shelters.

All piranha fish are combined into one family and are divided, according to zoological classification, into three subfamilies.

Myelin subfamily

Myelins are the largest group; it unites seven genera and 32 species. These are herbivores and absolutely harmless piranhas (photo). Fish eat plant foods. The color is quite varied, depending on the species. The body shape is characteristic, laterally compressed and tall. Juveniles are steel-silver in color, with varying degrees of spotting, which darkens to a chocolate gray color as they grow. Sizes vary from 10 to 20 centimeters. Many representatives of this subfamily are bred in aquariums. They need a large volume of water and sufficient hiding space, as they are quite shy fish. Aquarium piranha from the myelin subfamily will thrive at a water temperature of 23-28 degrees, and the daily diet should include lettuce, cabbage, spinach, peas and other vegetables. Some species even feed on nuts in natural conditions, easily cracking the strong shell with their powerful jaws.

Black pacu is the brightest representative of myelin

The black pacu (or Amazon broadbodied) is the most famous member of the Myelina subfamily. In addition, it is also the largest: its dimensions range from 30 centimeters to one meter or more, although it is not a predator. The color of adult individuals is quite modest, brownish-brown, but the young are silver in color with a large number of spots throughout the body and bright fins. Black pacu meat has good taste qualities and is used by local residents. These are commercial piranhas. Aquarium conditions They are also quite suitable, but the size of the fish will be slightly smaller than in nature, on average about 30 centimeters, life expectancy - within 10 years or a little more. Keeping this species requires a large aquarium (from 200 liters) and good care.

Subfamily Catoprionines

This fish, similar to the common piranha and being its closest relative, mainly (60%) has plant foods, and only 40% are small fish. But it still needs to be kept separately from other fish, otherwise very small ones will be eaten, and large ones risk being left with damaged fins and partially without scales. As animal food, you can use small shrimp or fish, earthworms, and plant food - spinach leaves, lettuce, nettles and other greens.

Subfamily Serrasalmina

These are the same ruthless predators; the subfamily is represented by only one genus and 25 species. They all eat animal food: fish, animals, birds. The size of piranhas of the Serrasalmina subfamily can reach up to 80 cm in size, reaching a weight of up to 1 kg. This is a real threat to animals (not to mention fish), which can be several times larger in size, but this does not stop the piranha. The appearance of small predators is truly menacing: it protrudes significantly forward and is slightly curved upward, the eyes are bulging, and the body is characterized by a rounded flat shape. In reservoirs they prefer to stay in schools, but when attacking a prey they act independently of each other, so it cannot be said that these are close-knit group fish. Piranhas react to movement in the water, this attracts their attention. When one of them finds a victim, the others immediately flock to the spot. Moreover, there is an opinion among zoologists that piranhas are capable of making sounds, thereby transmitting information to each other. A flock of piranhas can leave an animal with only bones in a few minutes.

The information that they are able to sense blood at a considerable distance from the victim is true. Piranha fish live in the murky waters of the Amazon, and it is natural that they had to adapt to conditions of poor visibility, as a result of which they have a well-developed sense of smell. Piranhas are indeed attracted to blood, this is a signal that a prey has arrived.

In addition, they do not disdain carrion and even their sick or weakened brothers. Only a few species pose a real danger to animals and humans.

Common piranha

The most famous representative, around which conversations do not subside, is the Common Piranha. The length of individuals of this species can reach up to 30 centimeters, but they are generally the size of a human palm. Common piranhas (photo of the fish below) have a greenish-silver color with many dark spots throughout the body; the scales on the abdomen have a characteristic pinkish tint. They live in flocks of approximately one hundred individuals.

In recent years, ordinary piranhas have also been very popular in home keeping. Aquarium conditions help reduce aggressiveness. But you still need a separate aquarium.

Black piranha

This is another species from the Serrasalmina subfamily, very common in nature and popular in home breeding. Habitat - and Orinoco. The body shape is diamond-shaped, and the color is dark, black and silver. In young fish, the abdomen has a yellow tint. Black piranha - omnivorous predator, everything is suitable for the diet: fish, arthropods, birds or animals that accidentally fell into the water. Such indiscriminate eating led to their fairly high numbers in the waters of the Amazon. Although in terms of aggressiveness the species is inferior to the same ordinary piranha. An aquarium for such fish requires a large one, more than 300 liters. The difficulty of breeding lies in the aggressiveness of piranhas towards each other. Reproduction is possible if aquarium members of the family eat properly; if there is an abundance of animal food, they become obese, which can become a significant obstacle to the appearance of offspring. The photo shows a black piranha.

Myth one: piranhas attack humans

It is difficult to judge this clearly, since the data is very contradictory. Many scientists and zoologists who spent more than one year in the Amazon have never witnessed an attack; in addition, they themselves, exposing themselves to danger for the sake of experiment, swam in the muddy waters of the river, where a few minutes before they had caught piranhas, but there were no attacks followed.

For a long time, there was a story about a bus with local residents that drove into one of the tributaries of the Amazon, and all the passengers were literally eaten by piranhas. The story really took place in the 70s of the last century, 39 passengers died, but one managed to escape. According to eyewitnesses, the bodies of the victims were indeed badly damaged by piranhas. But it is not possible to judge whether this was an attack and whether it was the cause of death.

There are reliable sources of bites on the beaches of Argentina when the fish were the first to attack. But these were isolated cases. Zoologists explain this by the fact that piranhas, whose spawning just begins at the height of beach season, build nests in shallow water. Therefore, this behavior of fish is quite natural: they protected their offspring.

In addition, piranhas are most dangerous for humans and animals during drought periods, when the water level in rivers reaches its minimum, which affects their diet: there is less food. Local residents know about this and do not enter the river at this time. The safest season is the rainy season, when the rivers overflow.

Myth two: piranhas attack in packs

There are many stories about terrible attacks by an entire flock, all this is fueled by numerous feature films. In fact, large individuals do not prowl in search of prey in the river; they stand in one place, usually in shallow water. The fish waits for its prey, and as soon as this prey appears, the piranha heads to the right place. Attracted by the noise and smell of blood, others rush there. Piranhas gather in schools not to hunt prey, but to defend themselves from the enemy - this is what many scientists believe. It would seem, who could harm them? However, even such a predatory fish has enemies. Piranhas, gathering in schools, defend themselves from river dolphins that feed on them, and for people they are harmless and quite friendly. In addition, among natural enemies piranhas - arapaima and caimans. The first one is giant fish, which is considered practically a living fossil. Possessing amazing, super-strong scales, it poses a real threat to piranhas. Fish found alone instantly become victims of arapaima. Caimans are small representatives of the Crocodile order. Zoologists have noticed that as soon as the number of these caimans decreases, the number of piranhas in the river immediately increases.

Myth three: piranhas appear in Russian water bodies

Incidents did take place, but this was either the result of the behavior of careless amateurs aquarium fish, or intentional launch into a body of water. In any case, there is no need to worry. Although piranhas adapt perfectly to any conditions, the main factor for their successful existence remains the same - warm climate and water (within 24-27 degrees), which is impossible in our country.

Of course, these Piranhas are dangerous and very voracious, but still the stories about them are often overly embellished and far-fetched. The indigenous population of South America learned to coexist next to piranhas and even made them a commercial target. Nature has not created anything useless: if wolves are what they are, then piranhas perform a similar function in water bodies.

Piranha fish inspires horror not only in its native South America, but also in the inhabitants of all other continents. In terms of the number of myths, only a huge shark can be compared with a small river inhabitant.

She is the only one who can compete with her in bloodthirstiness and sharp teeth. And although the piranha is significantly smaller in size than the shark, this does not prevent it from freely ruling the South American rivers and lakes from Venezuela in the north to Argentina in the south.

Biological diversity

In total, ichthyologists count 9 genera, consisting of 58 species of piranhas. Only 25 species are predators, and the rest are herbivores. However, according to scientists, several thousand unknown species of characin fish (including piranhas) may live in the waters of hitherto unexplored areas of South America.

The largest types of piranhas

The most large species piranhas reach a length of half a meter and weigh 2.5 kg, and the smallest are only 25 cm and weigh 0.5 kg, but, regardless of size and color, all piranhas have teeth of amazing sharpness. Serrasalminae ( Latin name"Zubastikov") belong to the order Cyprinidae, family Characinidae, subfamily Sawtooth.

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Piranha teeth

Contrary to classification, piranha teeth do not resemble a saw, but rather a razor or sharply sharpened scissors. They have a triangular shape (the upper triangle fits into the groove between the lower ones) and reach 4-5 mm in length. These teeth aren't just a razor-sharp metaphor: Indians actually used them as razors in ancient times.

But piranha is not limited to sharp teeth alone. She has surprisingly powerful jaws. First, the jaws close and the teeth cut off what is in the mouth from everything else. Then the closed jaws move horizontally (that is, the piranha seems to be chewing), and its teeth, like electric razor knives, bite through harder materials, so that neither veins with bones, nor even thick sticks can resist the jaw!

Gastronomic delicacy

Residents of South America catch and enjoy eating piranhas, whose meat tastes like trout, although catching it is not so easy. To catch piranhas, they use huge hooks, which are used to catch huge fish weighing tens and hundreds of kilograms (and piranhas weigh only 0.5–2.5 kg) and thick fishing line. However, even after getting off the hook, the piranha will approach the bait again and again until it gets caught for dinner.

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Origin of the name: piranha

Piranha fish got its name from the word “pirusinha”. This is what the Topu Indians who lived in Brazil called it. “Piru” in their language means “fish”, and “sinya” means “teeth”, that is, “pirusinha” means “toothed fish”. The Portuguese who arrived in Brazil changed the name to the more familiar “piranha” or “piraya”, which translated means “pirate”.

In Germany and Russia, this fish received not at all menacing names: the Germans call this fish, round like a coin and covered with small shiny scales, “silver thaler”, and in our country it received the nickname “coin” or, depending on the size, “ruble” ", "kopeck piece" and so on. The Spaniards call this fish “cariba”, that is, “cannibal”, because, completely hungry, the piranha attacks its smaller comrades in the flock.

Unsurpassed survivability of piranhas

In general, it is common for piranhas to eat a piece of a friend. The barely grown fish (1.5–2 centimeters in length) are already tearing pieces of meat out of each other. At the same time, despite the sharpest teeth, it does not come to murder. A hungry piranha needs very little meat to satisfy its hunger, so taking a bite from its neighbor usually calms it down. And the victim soon recovers, because piranhas have amazing ability to regeneration, and bitten off pieces of meat grow back in them.

These fish have long had a bad reputation. It is considered to be rightful. They are eager to kill and greedy for blood. Their appetite is insatiable; a school of piranhas quickly gnaws at the carcass of a pig or sheep, deftly tearing the meat from the bones.

However, not all types of piranha are so scary. Some of them are harmless. How can you find out what awaits you? muddy water rivers? Indians have their own signs.

The victim had no chance. As soon as the trout and the pool where the piranhas were splashing were released, flocks of enemies rushed at it. Not even a second had passed before one of the fish plucked a whole piece from the side of the trout. This was the signal. Incited by the hunting instinct, six other piranhas began to tear new pieces out of the trout's body.

Her stomach was already torn to pieces. She jerked, trying to dodge, but another squad of killers - there were now about twenty of them - grabbed the fugitive. A cloud of blood mixed with scraps of entrails spread in the water. The trout were no longer visible, and the angry predators were still scurrying about in the muddy water, poking their noses and the invisible outline of the fish.

Suddenly, after about half a minute, the darkness passed. The piranhas have calmed down. The thirst to kill subsided. Their movements slowed. There was no trace left of the trout, a fish 30 cm long.

Common piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri)

Classics of the genre: vampire and piranha

If you have ever seen a piranha hunt in a movie, you will never forget this nightmarish scene. At the mere sight of it, ancient fears are resurrected in a person’s soul. Scraps of old legends swirl in my memory: “It happened on the Rio Negro. Or on Rio San Francisco, Xinga, Araguaia... My father fell into the water..."

From Alfred Brehm to Igor Akimushkin, books about animals are replete with stories about bloodthirsty piranhas. “Very often a crocodile takes flight in front of a wild school of these fish... Often these fish overpower even a bull or tapir... Dobritzhofer says that two Spanish soldiers... were attacked and torn to pieces” (A Brehm). These messages have become “classics of the genre.” Every high school student now knew that the rivers of Brazil were teeming with killer fish.

Over time, schools of fish swam from books and articles into cinema halls. Among the horror films made about Amazonian predators, we can mention the films “Piranha” (1978) directed by Joe Dante and “Piranha 2” (1981) directed by James Cameron.

Their plots are similar. Located on the shore of a picturesque lake military base. Piranhas are grown there. By chance, predators fall into the waters of the lake and begin to eat tourists. And in general, the same “Jaws”, only smaller in size and more in number.

Her name alone makes fans of these films shiver. And hardly any of the experts creepy stories, once in Brazil, he will risk going into the waters of the river if he finds out that piranhas are found there.

The first reports about them began to arrive when the conquistadors reached Brazil and went deep into the wilds of the forests. These messages made my blood run cold.

"Indians, wounded cannonballs and with musket bullets, screaming, they fell from their canoes into the river, and ferocious piranhas gnawed them to the bones,” wrote a certain Spanish monk who accompanied the gold and adventure seeker Gonzalo Pizarro in 1553 during a predatory campaign in the lower Amazon. (Horrified by the cruelty of the fish, the pious monk did not think that the Spaniards, who fired cannons at the Indians, were no more merciful than piranhas.)

Since then, the reputation of these fish has been justifiably fearsome. They smelled the smell of blood better than sharks. This is what he wrote in 1859 German traveler Karl-Ferdinand Appun, who visited Guyana: “Intending to take a bath, I just immersed my body in warm waters river, I rushed out of there and retreated to the shore, because I felt a piranha bite on my thigh - exactly where there was a wound from a mosquito bite, scratched by me until it bled.”

Reading such confessions, at some point you catch yourself thinking that piranhas are fiends of hell, who escaped from there through an oversight and are now tyrannizing people and animals. There are no more terrible creatures in the world than them. An awkward step into the water - and dozens of razor-sharp teeth dig into your leg. Good God! One skeleton remains... Is all this really true?

Golden mean: flooded forest and great dry land

“It would be naive to demonize piranhas,” writes German zoologist Wolfgang Schulte, author of the recently published book Piranhas. For about 30 years he studied these tropical predators and, like no one else, knows their two-faced essence: “But it would also be naive to portray them as harmless fish, not at all dangerous to humans. The truth lies in the middle."

Over 30 species of piranha live in South America. They feed mainly on small fish, shrimp, carrion and insects.

Only a few piranhas attack warm-blooded animals: among them, for example, red and black piranhas. But these fish are quick to kill. If a young heron, having fallen out of the nest, awkwardly plops into the water, “she is surrounded by a flock of piranhas,” writes V. Schulte, “and seconds later only feathers float on the water.”

Piranhas have lunch in an aquarium

He had seen similar scenes himself, although it is not easy to thoroughly understand river battles. Even experts have difficulty distinguishing between individual types of piranhas, since the color of the fish changes dramatically with age.

However, the most aggressive piranhas usually feed only on carrion. “They rarely attack living mammals or people. As a rule, this happens during the dry season, when the habitat of fish is sharply narrowed and there is not enough prey. They also attack individuals with bleeding wounds,” explains Schulte. If the attack is successful and blood spurts out from the victim, all the piranhas scurrying nearby rush to her.

So, the aggressiveness of piranhas depends on the time of year. During the rainy season, the Amazon and Orinoco flood. The water level in them rises by about 15 meters. Rivers flood a vast area. Where the forest recently grew, boats float, and the rower, lowering a pole into the water, can reach the crown of the tree. Where the birds sang, the fish are silent.

Flooded forests become a breadbasket for piranhas. They have a great selection of food. The local Indians know this and, fearing nothing, climb into the water. Even children splash in the river, dispersing schools of piranhas.

Piranhas have sharp teeth

Indian children swim in the Orinoco River, infested with piranhas

Water skiers carelessly ride along the Orinoco fairway, teeming with “killer fish.” Guides carrying tourists on boats without hesitation jump into the water, and right under their feet tourists catch piranhas with fishing rods.

Miracles and nothing more! Predators behave more modestly than trained lions. It’s just that circus lions sometimes develop an appetite.

Piranhas change their character when there is great dryness. Then the rivers turn into streams. Their level drops sharply. Everywhere you can see “lagoons” - lakes and even puddles in which fish, caimans and river dolphins splash, which have become captives. Piranhas, cut off from the river, do not have enough food - they fuss and rush about.

Now they are ready to bite anything that moves. Any living creature that gets into their pond is immediately attacked. As soon as a cow or horse puts its face into the lake to drink, angry fish grab its lips and tear out the meat in pieces. Often piranhas even kill each other.

"During a drought, not one local would not risk swimming in such a body of water,” writes Wolfgang Schulte.

Skeleton in the waves of memory: fisherman and river

Harald Schultz, one of the best experts on the Amazon, wrote that during his 20 years in South America, he knew only seven people who were bitten by piranhas, and only one was seriously injured. It was Schultz, who lived among the Indians for a long time, who came up with a joke at one time, ridiculing the fears of Europeans, for whom death hides at every turn in the Amazon forests.

Until now, this anecdote wanders from one publication to another, often taken on faith.

“My father was about 15 years old at the time. The Indians were chasing him, and he, running away from them, jumped into a canoe, but the boat was flimsy. She capsized and he had to swim. He jumped out onto the shore, but bad luck: he looked, but only a skeleton was left of him. But nothing else terrible happened to him.”

Most often, the victims of piranhas are fishermen, who hunt them themselves. After all, in Brazil, piranhas are considered a delicacy. Catching them is easy: you just need to throw a hook tied to a wire into the water (the piranha will bite through ordinary fishing line), and twitch it, imitating the fluttering of the victim.

A fish the size of a palm hangs on a hook right there. If a fisherman attacks a school of piranhas, then just know that you have time to throw the hook: every minute you can pull out a fish.

In the excitement of the hunt, it’s easy to turn into a victim yourself. A piranha thrown out of the water wriggles wildly and grabs the air with its teeth. Taking it off the hook can cause you to lose a finger. Even seemingly dead piranhas are dangerous: the fish seems to have stopped moving, but if you touch its teeth, its mouth will reflexively tighten, like a trap.

Red pacu (Piaractus brachypomus) herbivorous piranha

How many adventurers who reached the shores of the Amazon or its tributaries lost their fingers in the old days only because they decided to catch fish for their dinner. This is how legends were born.

Indeed, what does a piranha opponent look like at first glance? The fish seems inconspicuous and even dull. Her weapon is “sheathed,” but as soon as she opens her mouth, the impression changes. The piranha's mouth is lined with triangular, razor-sharp teeth that resemble daggers. They are positioned so that they snap together like a zipper on your clothing.

The hunting style inherent in piranhas is also unusual (by the way, sharks behave similarly): having stumbled upon a prey, it instantly rushes at it and cuts off a piece of meat; Having swallowed it, it immediately digs into the body again. In a similar way, the piranha attacks any prey.

Piranha species Metynnis luna Soret

Flag piranha (Catoprion mento)

However, sometimes the piranha itself ends up in someone else's mouth. In the rivers of America she has many enemies: large predatory fish, caimans, herons, river dolphins and freshwater matamata turtles, which are also dangerous to humans. All of them, before swallowing a piranha, try to bite it as hard as possible to check whether it is still alive.

“Swallowing a live piranha is like putting a running circular saw into your stomach,” notes American journalist Roy Sasser. The piranha is not the prophet Jonah, ready to rest patiently in the belly of the whale: it begins to bite and can kill the predator that caught it.

As already mentioned, the piranha has a superbly developed sense of smell - it smells blood in the water from afar. As soon as you throw bloody bait into the water, piranhas swim from all over the river. However, we must not forget that the inhabitants of the Amazon and its tributaries can only rely on their sense of smell. The water in these rivers is so muddy that you can’t see anything ten centimeters away. All that remains is to sniff or listen for prey. The sharper the sense of smell, the higher the chances of survival.

Piranha's hearing is also excellent. The wounded fish flounder desperately, generating high frequency waves. Piranhas catch them and swim to the source of this sound.

However, piranhas cannot be called “voracious killers,” as was long believed. English zoologist Richard Fox placed 25 goldfish in a pool where two piranhas were swimming. He expected that the predators would soon kill all the victims, like wolves entering a sheepfold.

However, the piranhas killed only one goldfish per day between them, dividing it in half like brothers. They did not deal with their victims in vain, but killed only to eat.

However, they also did not want to miss out on rich prey - a flock of golden fish. Therefore, on the very first day, the piranhas bit off their fins. Now the helpless fish, unable to swim on their own, swayed in the water like floats - tail up, head down. They were a living food supply for the hunters. Day after day, they chose a new victim and, without haste, ate it.

Amazonian “wolves” are friends of the Indians

In their homeland, these predators are real river orderlies (remember that wolves are also called forest orderlies). When rivers overflow during the rainy season and entire areas of forest are hidden under water, many animals do not have time to escape. Thousands of corpses roll on the waves, threatening to poison all living things around with their poison and cause an epidemic. If it were not for the agility of the piranhas, which eat these carcasses white to the bone, then people would die from seasonal epidemics in Brazil.

And not only seasonal ones! Twice a month, on the new moon and full moon, a particularly strong (“spring”) tide begins: the waters of the Atlantic rush deep into the continent, rushing up the river beds. The Amazon begins to flow backwards, spilling over its banks.

If you consider that every second the Amazon dumps up to 200 thousand cubic meters of water into the ocean, you can easily imagine what a wall of water is rolling backwards. The river overflows for kilometers.

The consequences of these regular floods are felt even 700 kilometers from the mouth of the Amazon. Small animals die from them again and again. Piranhas, like kites, clear the entire area of ​​carrion, which would otherwise rot for a long time in the water. In addition, piranhas exterminate wounded and sick animals, healing the populations of their victims.

The pacu fish, a close relative of the piranha, is completely vegetarian - it is not a forest orderly, but a real forester. with their own powerful jaws she crunches the nuts, helping their kernels to spill into the soil. Swimming through the flooded forest, she eats fruits, and then, far from the place of her meal, she spews out seeds, dispersing them, as birds do.

Learning the habits of piranhas, one can only remember with bitterness that at one time the authorities of Brazil, falling under the terrible spell of legends, tried to put an end to these fish once and for all and poisoned them with various poisons, simultaneously exterminating other inhabitants of the rivers.

Well, in the 20th century, man experienced the “dizziness of progress.” Without any hesitation, we tried to establish balance in nature in our own way, destroying natural mechanisms and suffering the consequences every time.

The natives of South America have long learned to get along with piranhas and even made them their helpers. Many Indian tribes living along the banks of the Amazon, in rainy time For years they don’t bother digging graves to bury their relatives. They lower the dead body into the water, and the piranhas, born gravediggers, will leave a little of the deceased.

The Guarani Indians wrap the deceased in a net with large mesh and hang it over the side of the boat, waiting until the fish scrape off all the flesh. Then they decorate the skeleton with feathers and hide (“bury”) with honor in one of the huts.

Black-sided piranha (Serrasalmus humeralis)

Since time immemorial, piranha jaws have replaced scissors for Indians. When making arrows poisoned with curare poison, the Indians cut their tips with the teeth of piranhas. In the wound of the victim, such an arrow broke off, all the more likely to poison it.

There are many legends about piranhas. Villages and rivers in Brazil are named after them. In cities, girls are called “piranhas.” prostitute, ready to rob their victim clean.

Nowadays, piranhas have also begun to be found in the reservoirs of Europe and America. I remember that some tabloid newspapers reported about the appearance of “killer fish” in the Moscow region. It's all about exotic lovers who, having started unusual fish, may, having had enough of the “toy”, throw them directly into a nearby pond or sewer drain.

However, there is no need to panic. The fate of piranhas in our climate is unenviable. These heat-loving animals quickly begin to get sick and die, and they will not survive the winter in open waters. And they don't look like serial killers, as we have seen.