Pygocentrus are the most famous and aquaristically most important piranhas. In contrast to all other piranhas, Pygocentrus are always schooling fish. They are less keen on fin pieces of other fish than Serrasalmus and Pristorycon species and with their particularly sharp teeth they can bite whole pieces out of a body. However, the Pygocentrus species are by no means bloodthirsty monsters either, but opportunists that use any food – often of plant origin – that is available.
Pygocentrus cariba is a beautiful species that is regularly found in the trade and represents the shoaling piranhas in the Orinoco. The large humeral spot (= shoulder spot) is typical of the species and is most pronounced in adolescent and young adult fish. Very small animals (under approx. 4 cm in length) do not yet show the humeral spot. Very old animals, like all Pygocentrus species, tend to be very darkly colored, in which case the species can hardly be distinguished. The species name cariba is only available via a caption (which authors before 1993 usually considered insufficient); Fink (1993) revised the genus Pygocentrus and established cariba as the correct species name for the shoal piranha with shoulder spot (principle of the “first reviser”), whereby the name P. notatus, which was previously considered valid, became a synonym.
This piranha usually grows to a maximum length of approx. 25 cm, the largest length stated in the scientific literature is 27.9 cm total length (including caudal fin).
For our customers: P. cariba has the code numbers 292600 (2-4 cm) to 292607 (18-22 cm) on our stock list. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
