Pygocentrus Explained

Pygocentrus is a genus of the piranha family Serrasalmidae. All species are native to tropical and subtropical South America. All the species are predatory, scavengers and may form large schools. The famous red-bellied piranha, Pygocentrus nattereri, is one of four species in the genus.

Species

There are currently four recognized species in this genus:

• Pygocentrus cariba (Humboldt, 1821) (black spot piranha) – Orinoco river basin.
• Pygocentrus nattereri Kner, 1858 (red piranha, red-bellied piranha) – Amazon, Paraguay-Paraná-Uruguay, and Essequibo river basins, as well as various river in northeastern Brazil.
• Pygocentrus palometa Valenciennes, 1850 – Orinoco river basin, possibly a nomen dubium.^[1]
• Pygocentrus piraya (G. Cuvier, 1819) (San Francisco piranha) – São Francisco River

References

• Fink, W. 1993. Revision of the piranha genus Pygocentrus (Teleostei, Characiformes). Copeia 3:665-687.
• Machado-Allison, A. & W. Fink. 1996. Los peces caribes de Venezuela> diagnosis, claves, aspectos ecológicos y evolutivos. Universidad Central de Venezuela, CDCH, (Colección Monografías)Caracas, 149p.

Notes and References

1. Reis, R. E., S. O. Kullander and C. J. Ferraris, Jr., editors (2003). Check list of the freshwater fishes of South and Central America. CLOFFSCA. EDIPUCRS, Porto Alegre. 2003: i-xi + 1-729