Maybe it's not what you think, some of them are still vegetarian
Is the ferocious "hunter" piranha really that scary?
It was discovered that piranhas are actually timid fish that only protect themselves through group actions.
Piranhas, also known as gobys, or piranhas, are a class of omnivorous freshwater fish in the rivers of South America. Piranhas are not a single species of fish, but several species of fish in the family Lipidopteridae
With its sharp teeth and crazy carnal appetite! Known and feared
Classification of piranhas
It is a general term for fish in several genera in the subfamily Sawfish, including: Sawfish, Rump, Jiri sawfish, and Sawfish.
The well-known red-bellied piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri) is a representative species of the genus Breech
The question of how many species of piranhas there are is still unknown and controversial.
Estimates of the number of species range roughly between thirty and sixty species
Piranhas are generally 14-26 cm long, with some large individuals reaching 40 cm in length.
Teeth, tightly arranged in a single layer fixed to the upper and lower frontal bones, sharp teeth are easy to pierce and cut off prey
The teeth are generally triangular, pointed or leafy.
Piranhas are often known as the image of a ferocious hunter
Piranhas, in fact, are a timid fish that only protect themselves through group actions, and piranhas are often attacked by cormorants, caimans and finless porpoises.
They are just a group of ordinary fish with slightly larger teeth
Researchers, when studying in Lake Viana, Brazil, during the rainy season, found that piranhas have been eating herbs at some stage of their lives, so strictly speaking, piranhas are not carnivorous fish.
Piranhas are an important part of the local ecosystem
It is widely distributed in a variety of environments such as still water and rushing rivers, and sometimes greatly hinders the drainage of local low-lying areas.
As a carnivore and scavenger, they feed on plants, fish, bugs and some animals that are larger than themselves, and their presence affects the composition and distribution of local fish population structures
Some piranhas also feed on plant seeds, which they chew fully, so they do not become propagators of plant seeds.
Simulated scenarios for an aquarium
There are often rumors circulating on the internet that piranhas can chew people or cows to death or eat white bones in tens of seconds.
There is a rumor that piranhas are carnivores that are attracted to blood. (These rumors often refer specifically to the Nash breech carp, commonly known as the red-bellied piranha.) In addition, the Carey's buttocks are also aggressive, and the sharp teeth can cause severe trauma. ）
Pictured: Carey's buttocks are lip carp
These rumors were refuted by The Papers of Helder Queiroz and Anne Maguran published in the Biological Bulletin
The relationship between piranhas and humans
Piranhas occasionally attack humans, but generally when the water level is low, there is less food, the density of fish is high, and the population is in conflict with the fish.
These reports of attacks on humans usually occur near fishing bays where fish offal or offal are often thrown into the water.
Piranhas can harm swimmers and bathers in the river, often due to accidents caused by the swimmer's personal negligence
Piranhas also wreak havoc on local commercial and competitive fishing, stealing bait, cannibalizing, destroying nets and equipment, and even attacking humans when caught.
An aquarium experience program
Piranhas are often found in the fish trade and are traded as pets, but this trade is illegal in many parts of the world.
The most common pet piranhas are mostly red-bellied piranhas, and it is very common to be attacked by the same kind of people and have fewer eyes in the piranha during the breeding process, and if the food is not enough, the piranha will eventually eat the same kind.
Piranhas are naturally distributed in the Amazon Basin, the Orinoco River, the rivers of Guyana, the Paraguay River, the Paraná River and the San Francisco River Basin
They have been introduced to the United States as ornamental fish and have been found to flow into the Potomac River, Lake Ozarks in Missouri and Lake Wennebergo in Connecticut, although these piranhas generally do not survive the cold winters.
Similarly, piranhas have been found in Lake Kaputai in Bangladesh.
In July 2012, the media reported an attack on piranhas near Liujiang in Liuzhou, Guangxi Province.
Some investigations have shown that piranha populations have been dispersed from their original habitats into rivers around the world, and some unscrupulous fish traders have evaded sanctions by scattering piranhas into local waters to avoid being pursued by their own police.
The scariest movie "Piranha"
This is a movie I've seen before, (probably the 1978 version) and it was really young and felt so "scary" after watching it!
A group of small fish can soak the blood of people's bites, subverting my understanding of ferocious animals. Since then, it has also left a shadow in the heart, which has been influenced to this day.
I can swim in the sea, but I never dare to enter rivers, lakes, or even man-made lakes in parks. The muddy water makes me feel uneasy forever.
Piranhas, like dinosaurs, have a charm unique in our history.
In the classic "007" movie, the James Bond villain likes to use piranhas as weapons to kill people, and the piranha-themed movies vividly depict their horror, and gradually, the bloodthirsty image of the piranha eager to tear humans to pieces penetrates the hearts of the audience and becomes a classic image in horror animal films.
There was a report that on March 12, 2015, an 11-year-old child in Peru accidentally fell into a piranha farming pond, and people immediately salvaged it, but only a few minutes later, only a pair of white bones remained.
There are many similar terrorist attacks on the Internet.
This kind of fish is almost not found in the wild in China, because piranhas mainly live in the Amazon River, and for many Chinese, they have never seen piranhas eat people, and it is inevitable to wonder in their hearts, can piranhas really tear creatures to the bone, is it really as dangerous as it is shown in Hollywood movies?
Experts believe that whether piranhas are a threat to humans can only be said or not.
Yes, because piranhas have cannibalistic conditions, sharp teeth, and intelligent combat strategies;
No, it's because piranha habits aren't the same as we think.
Due to the deeply rooted horror image, piranha has a lot of popular sayings, let's see which ones are correct.
Do piranhas attack humans?
In fact, piranhas tend to be scavengers compared to predators. That is, they are accustomed to eating dead meat rather than living creatures, and humans are not even part of the normal diet of piranhas.
To prove this, fish expert Dr. Axelrod did an experiment. He took off his clothes, wore only his swim trunks, and entered a swimming pool full of piranhas, while he also fed the piranhas. While everyone took a breath of cold air for the Doctor's adventurous behavior, a wonderful moment appeared, and during the feeding process, the piranha did not attack the Doctor, but only the meat that was fed.
Piranhas do not see humans as prey, but as a source of danger
Will piranhas attack mutilated corpses?
Brazilian researcher Ivan Sachima studied each case and concluded that cases of piranhas attacking humans occurred after they had died.
Amazonian waters are very dangerous, people always die in Amazon waters for various reasons, and once they die, piranhas will suddenly attack corpses.
Is it safe to swim with piranhas?
This question is complex to answer and is not entirely secure.
Humans are a source of danger for piranhas, who defend themselves when threatened
In reality, it's hard to predict what behavior will cause piranha attacks, so it makes sense to stay away from piranhas. If you're in the same water as a piranha, remember not to make a lot of noise. Piranhas generally do not attack humans for no reason.
If, you are catching piranhas with fishing nets, then people close to it will definitely be in trouble. In this case, piranhas don't fight, and generally take a few bites at your hands and feet and will escape.
Piranhas don't like to eat people, so what exactly does it eat?
Most often, piranhas eat dead flesh from the water, as well as scales and fins that fall off their bodies. Individual species do attack live animals, but usually only animals the size of chickens. This lifestyle is related to biological evolution, and piranhas have the ability to attack large organisms and can tear flesh into pieces, but are often more efficient at attacking animals that are slightly larger than them.
Experts predict that in order to do the same as the piranha cannibalism scene in the movie, it will take about 300 to 500 piranhas to peel the flesh of an ordinary person from the bone in 5 minutes
Although piranhas like to live in groups, it is impossible to find such a large number of piranhas in nature. In fact, the reason piranhas live in groups is not to hunt, but to defend against predators together.
Not all species are carnivores
Some species of piranhas are actually vegetarians, completely vegetarian, and rely on eating tiny plants and algae to survive; some piranhas are omnivorous and eat meat, but in general, they eat more seeds than meat.
In general, most piranhas are shy and less aggressive. Moreover, piranhas don't fully trust each other, and when you keep too many piranhas in the same tank, they become very frightened and will wander around in the tank.
What's even more interesting is that when the piranha is put into a new tank, it may behave wildly, hitting the tank all the time, or even pretending to die. But don't worry, experts think it's normal behavior, and new piranhas do it until they can adapt to their new environment.
Obviously, piranhas are not as scary as people think. Although they have sharp weapons and can tear apart flesh, the situation of quickly attacking a human and eating him is actually a hype and exaggeration of news channels, which like to use our preconceived notions to hype piranha attacks.
For the locals, the piranha is as terrifying as the crow brings me, and that alone doesn't mean that the piranha can bring us the kind of danger that the movie describes.
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