Red-bellied Pacu

• It feeds mainly on fruit and seeds falling from the trees of the flooded forest, and is one of Amazonia's great seed dispersers: up to 89% of the seeds that pass through its gut still germinate.
• It disperses better than the tambaqui because more seeds pass through it intact.
• The juveniles mimic the red-bellied piranha, with a red chest and belly; they are told apart by the teeth, which in the pacu are molar-like.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bony fish)

Habitat and environment

Rivers, floodplain lagoons and flooded forest of the Amazon and Orinoco basins; it runs up to the headwaters to spawn as the flood begins

Sexual maturity

From about 52 cm

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Piaractus brachypomus

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.