Piranha is a freshwater fish included in the family Characidae. Characidae is a derivative of the order Characiformes, the freshwater fish species belonging to omnivores. Natural habitat is in South America rivers in country. In the language of Venezuela, called the piranha fish caribes and is renowned as having a taste for meat.
Facts Piranha
Piranha has a body length from a few centimeters to 40 cm. Have sharp teeth and triangular. Some species are plant eaters, but most meat-eaters. Most species of flesh-eating piranha fish will only eat the other, with a small bite on the semicircular fins or scales of other fish before letting a wounded fish swim away. Any fins or scales containing between 35-85% protein, which makes it so nutritious. In addition, the black water rivers of South America often contains very little calcium and phosphorus, and scales or fins filled with these minerals. Fins or scales of victims will grow back in a few weeks so the piranha can get more food. Piranha are like cattle by biting gently just a few grass constantly.
There are about 40 species of piranha found in South America from northern Argentina to Colombia, but only about three species (mainly red belly piranha / red bellied showing signs of real aggression. In the Tupi language of the local Amazon, piranha word meaning "toothed fish ". Some languages or dialects give this fish Caribe name that means" cannibal "or, sometimes," pengebiri donkey ". Some piranha species are almost completely plant-eating, preferring to eat flowers, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Food This may develop slowly due to massive flooding the Amazon, which can flood an area the size of England for seven months at a time. About 200 species of fish, including several species of piranha, migrate to a new food to eat and breed. In many cases, the seeds of plants necessary piranha through the intestines to help germinate better.
Flesh-eating piranhas generally prefer to eat or scavenge dead animals rather than attacking live animals. They tend to swim together in groups of about 20 head or more, but this perlakuann not show their aggressiveness, even showed the defense system of the piranha. Brazilian scientist, Professor Ivan Sazima, from the Institute of Biology, Universidade Estadual de Campinasin in many years of research about the piranha did not find any cases piranhas kill humans. Professor Ivan Sazima and her team found only a dead man in the river, before the piranha came menggigitnnya. For example, the bodies of drowned people who are living bone and lost all the flesh for piranha, but it takes place after the corpse had been four days on the river. After 20 hours in water, others drowned corpse meat loses hands and feet, but his body did not. The third man, who died of a heart attack while in the water, just a bit of flesh is lost after a few hours in the water.
However, there are rare cases where the piranha (red belly piranha usually) will really make bubbly water. There is one situation when the local fishermen intentionally throwing unwanted fish intestine to a small section of the river. With the passage of time, piranha learn to migrate to where the food is delicious and can be destroyed quickly, such as chicken that has been plucked off his feathers and deliberately thrown into the water. Piranha who has been conditioned to eat the bloody intestines and it will take a chicken with excitement. However, only a few yards upstream, a swarm of piranha are different, of the same species, which have not been conditioned that way for a period of time, will not be happy eating a dead chicken that has been stripped of his feathers.
Another situation where there is water foaming due to the voracious piranha is when the whole bunch of birds were treating their children in a tree above a river. Parent birds care for their children to regurgitate food to their children. Direction regurgitated food is not perfect, and reflex bird babies are not quickly and accurately, so some regurgitated food is dropped into the water from their mouths. Piranha underneath adapt to wait for free food from the top, just as they did in chickens. Once they are conditioned to eat foods free fall, the piranhas will attack the baby bird that fell into the river below.
Even Richard Conniff in his book Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time Piranha told that the picture is not as long as this dibesar2kan by Hollywood filmmakers are not true. Richard Conniff prove it by deciding to "soak" at Seaworld Aquarium in Dallas, USA, as piranhas are being fed. Richard Conniff is an American writer who specializes in tulisan2 about the wild and binatang2 legs 2, 4, 6 and 8. He has written journal in TIME, Smithsonian Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, National Geographic and others. In addition he is also a presenter acara2 wild life in National Geographic, Animal Planet, BBC and others.
End of 2003, Professor Ivan Sazima wrote about how an increasing number of dams the river that leads to increased cases of piranhas attacking the people who bathe in the river. He described it in ilmiahWilderness and Environmental Medicine journal about how the parent caring for piranhas that their babies will protect their children from the man with just one bite per manusia.Sebuah usually dammed the river to slow the water so that tourists and local people can swim, or to flood prevention along with the increasing population. But the spots piranha (Serrasalmus spilopleura) happy breed in the water flow is slow. They spawn in the weeds floating or submerged. Rapid flow usually bring these plants to other places, but they survive better in the calm water, so the piranha will increase 10-fold under such conditions. The anxious parent piranha keeping their larvae, which swim comfortably in the shade plants itu.Sayangnya, swimmers had suddenly disrupt aquatic plants and bayi2 piranha. Parents upset piranhas will swoop down to give a warning bite on the swimmer, circle-shaped leaves bloody wounds. However, other piranhas will leave the swimmer alone and never do a series of tearing flesh down to the bone as it is known in the film city of Santa Cruz-film.Di in Conceicao, on the banks of the Rio Mogi Guacu, there never was a piranha bite before the river dammed to in 1998. But since then, the emergence of piranha attacks increased. In a short time during the five weeks, there are 38 piranha attacks - everything is done to protect babies piranha.
Barry Chernoff, Professor of Environmental Studies from Wesleyan University called piranha as "fake monster". His allegation is that the European explorers who first went to South America and the specimen must be returned with stories to be quite impressive ancillary funds so that they would return to give the explorers a pile of money to go back and continue to explore them. His research in 1984 in South America to prove that there is no local (near the banks of the Amazon river) are often missing toes or hands after the move in the river. In fact, he testified that anak2 locals a relaxing swim in the river without a single case about piranha attacks.