the.com/piranha
a fish with worse PR than actual teeth, mostly nibbling fruit and minding its business
means a small freshwater fish of South American rivers, known for sharp teeth and a fearsome reputation, though most species are far less aggressive than legend suggests
from From Portuguese, borrowed from Tupí (an Indigenous language of Brazil), where it combines roughly 'pirá' (fish) with a root for 'tooth' or 'cut' — literally something like 'tooth-fish' or 'scissors-fish.' The name traveled out of the Amazon basin into Portuguese and then into European languages, carrying its bite with it.
- diet
- many species eat seeds and fallen fruit
- roosevelt myth
- frenzy reputation built from a staged 1913 stunt
- replaceable teeth
- whole rows regrow throughout their lives
- scaredy fish
- they school for safety, not for hunting
- bark
- they grunt and croak when annoyed
amazon river piranhas — red-bellied piranha (pygocentrus nattereri) in south america's largest river system
black piranha — serrasalmus rhombeus, apex predator found in venezuelan and brazilian waters, largest piranha species