With a total length of 6,440 kilometers, the Amazon River is the second longest river in the world; with a basin area of 6,915,000 Km², accounting for about 40% of the total area of the South American continent, it is the largest river in the world with the largest flow and the widest basin area. Various legends of the Amazon basin are frequently brought to the big screen, making people curious about this magical river.
This huge river nourishes the vast land of South America and gives birth to the world's largest tropical rainforest, making this area recognized as the most mysterious "kingdom of life" in the world.
The land has also bred many amazing species, and the red-bellied piranha is one of the most famous.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" > red-bellied piranha</h1>
In fact, the real name of this fish is the red-bellied sawfish. This is a small carnivorous fish living in the subtropical region of South America, the red abdomen and the upper protruding lips are its distinctive features, the body length can grow to 20-30 cm, although it is a ferocious carnivorous fish, but it looks a bit cute, in the species-rich "lungs of the earth", it seems a bit unassuming. Because the Amazon River lives with all kinds of overlord-level animals, just say one of them can shock one side, such as caimans, such as reticulated pythons, such as bull sharks, and then such as electric eels. Just saying the name is like being in a horror movie. But this little red-bellied sawfish is also one of the overlords of the Amazon River.
Small size is a weakness, then rely on other aspects of excellence to make up for it. The red-bellied sawfish has a highly developed sense of hearing, sharp teeth and a strong jaw, which can not only bite the fish bone in one bite, but also bite off a steel fishing hook with a diameter of about 1 mm. Individual strength is not too terrible, after all, the size is not large, can be crushed by strength, the terrible thing is that this fish is a group of predators, together. A red-bellied sawfish carp can not beat the caiman, a hundred and a thousand together, no one dares to provoke. In the Amazon Basin, there has always been a legend that this fish bites the human who falls into the water into white bones in a few seconds, so it has gained the name of piranha or piranha, and it can be said to be a household name.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-center-line" > piranha invaded China</h1>
Because of its ferocious predation, habit of swimming in groups, and tropical appearance, it was introduced to China as an ornamental fish in the 1980s. As with the experience of many invasive species, once farming begins, many things begin to become uncontrollable. Some farmers abandoned or released it, or fled from farming, allowing the fish to flood China in just over two decades. In the Amazon, there are all kinds of ferocious animals that can compete with it, and in the Chinese mainland, they can't find any of its natural enemies. Soon, they appeared in Guangdong, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Jilin, Fujian, Hainan, and Taiwan.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-center-line" > reward thousand yuan a citywide roundup</h1>
Unlike other invasive species, this species was destroyed shortly after the invasion. The turning point took place in Liuzhou, Guangxi province in 2012. When a citizen was bathing his pet dog by the river, he was suddenly attacked by a piranha in the water, and his palm was bitten hard, bleeding incessantly, which was very frightening.
After the incident was reported by the local media, the local residents were panicked, and there were man-eating fish in the water, so that the citizens did not dare to go near the water's edge. Two days after the matter was fermented, the local authorities responded quickly and immediately issued a reward in multiple ways, rewarding one thousand yuan for catching a piranha. That was eight years ago, and one thousand yuan was equivalent to half a month's salary for many people.
Soon, on the banks of all the rivers in Liuzhou, there were more people catching fish than fish. Due to the huge amount of money, some shopping sites quickly found business opportunities, and the fish was caught elsewhere and sold online to Liuzhou in exchange for a high bounty. Within a week, the fish could no longer be found in the river, and the reward order was revoked.
It is worth saying that the meat of this fish is tight and tender, the taste is excellent, and it has not been too widespread after invading other cities, and after being caught, it is either sold to the aquarium at a high price as an ornamental fish, or it is made into a dish by Chinese foodies in a braised or charcoal-grilled manner, similar to the experience of crayfish, and some places have begun to breed for consumption.
< h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" > a large number of "piranhas" appear in Chao Lake</h1>
In July 2020, Anhui suffered a major flood that had not been encountered in a hundred years, and some citizens reacted that in the flooded woods, there were countless "piranhas" swimming around, which was very frightening.
Dramatically, the appearance of piranhas did not cause panic, but attracted a large number of fishing enthusiasts to go hunting. When I was fishing in the river, I overheard the fishing friends talking about this news, and I followed them to the place where the fish appeared.
When I arrived at the lake, there were already many fishing friends gathered in the place where the fish appeared, and I approached an early angler to see the catch, and it was really a piranha.
It's just that this "piranha" is not a piranha. There are many species of piranhas, and the fish found in Chaohu Lake is a close relative of the red-bellied sawfish carp, the short-lipped giant carp, also known as the freshwater white pomfret or red pomfret. Native to the Amazon River in South America, it is a tropical and subtropical fish species. Freshwater white pomfret has the characteristics of eating miscellaneous, fast growth, large individual, less disease, etc., and is particularly easy to survive, so it is cultivated as an economic fish in large quantities, up to 45 cm long, up to 25 kg. They are close relatives of piranhas, and juveniles mimic piranhas. Perhaps the most obvious difference from the red-bellied piranha is that the mouth is not so abrupt and the personality is not so fierce.
The flood allowed these fish to escape in large quantities from the breeding cages, but I did not expect to be happy for a few days, and I met a group of fishing enthusiasts, and the flood could not stop the enthusiasm for fishing.
Freshwater white pomfrets cannot survive below 10°C, so they cannot survive the winter in Chao Lake, and it seems to be a good home to be caught and eaten into the stomach.
The story of the piranha is over, but there are still many alien organisms that intentionally or unintentionally cause biological invasion and affect the local ecological balance, dear netizens, what invasive species do you live in?