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Teleostei (teleosts) > Characiformes (Characins) > Serrasalmidae (Piranhas and pacus) > Serrasalminae
Etymology: Serrasalmus: Latin, serran, serranus, saw and a fish of genus Serranus + Latin, salmo = salmon (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Kner.

Issue
Eschmeyer (1998: 994) syntype designation of BMNH 1928.1.24:10 Myletes maculatus Kner 1858 currently placed under Metynnis, is erroneous. Recent (10 Feb. 1978) and local syntype designations of NMW 57058 collected from Rio Negro, Brazil are erroneous. See Jégu & Santos (2001) for detailed morphology and distribution. See Martins-Santos, Julio-Jr. & Santos (1994) and Nakayama, Porto & Feldberg (2000) for cytogenetic study.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; pelagic. Tropical

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

South America: Amazon and Paraguay-Paraná River basins (Ref. 39031). Recorded from the Uruguay River (Ref. 79585).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m 10.8 range ? - ? cm
Max length : 26.4 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 115169); 34.5 cm TL (female); max. published weight: 420.00 g (Ref. 115169); max. published weight: 420.00 g

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal soft rays (total): 16; Anal soft rays: 33 - 35; Vertebrae: 36.

Occurs usually in small groups of up to 20 individuals which appear to have a definite range within a pond or a creek. Observed to be active mainly during the day. Larger fish extend their foraging until about 9 at night. where it stays in the shallows near the bottom, sheltered among vegetation (Ref. 9080). Larvae and juveniles hide and feed within the root tangle of water hyacinths, which also act as a dispersal agent during floods (Ref. 40399). Larvae feed on microscopic crustaceans and small aquatic insects; very small size juveniles (about 1.2 cm) already clip fins of other fishes (Ref. 40399). Juveniles and adults feed mostly on fins and muscle portions of fishes (Ref. 9080, 40398). Adults may scavenge on dead mammals, including humans (Ref. 40400). Attacks on humans with bite outbreaks may occur in dammed portions of rivers during the breeding season, related to brood protection by the spawning adults (Ref. 50802).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Jégu, M., 2003. Serrasalminae (Pacus and piranhas). p. 182-196. In R.E. Reis, S.O. Kullander and C.J. Ferraris, Jr. (eds.) Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS, Brasil. (Ref. 39031)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 22 December 2020

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Traumatogenic (Ref. 50802)

Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
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Ecology
Ecology

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Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
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Life cycle
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Anatomy
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Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01622 (0.01337 - 0.01967), b=3.17 (3.13 - 3.21), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 4.1 ±0.71 se; based on food items.

Resilience (Ref. 120179): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (25 of 100).

Serrasalmus maculatus Kner, 1858