Red-bellied Piranha

• alimentaciónFor all its reputation, it feeds mainly on injured fish, insects and plant matter, and attacks on large healthy animals are far rarer than the popular image suggests.
• The eggs are laid on submerged roots and the parents guard them without eating them.
• It shoals mainly as a defence against predators; it rarely hunts as a coordinated group.
• Breeding success varies greatly from year to year according to how the savannah has flooded.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bony fish)

Habitat and environment

Rivers, streams and connected lagoons of the Amazon, Paraguay-Paraná and Essequibo basins and the coastal rivers of north-eastern Brazil

Sexual maturity

At around 15 cm

Gestation / incubation

The eggs hatch in nine or ten days

Litter / clutch size

Between 4,000 and 5,000 eggs

Sources consulted: FishBase (Froese & Pauly, eds.) · Lista Roja de la UICN (evaluación de 2020)

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.