Scientific Name: Pygocentrus Nattereri or Serrasalmus Nattereri

Spanish Name: Piraña

Size: Average 6-8 inches in length, and adult piranhas can reach the 13 centimeters long.

Life span: The life span of the piranhas is about 10 years. 

For more information see:

• Report by Andre 
• Report by Tommy 
• Report by Vittorio
• Revised by Andrea V.
• Revised by Paolo.d.l.F
  

Eggs:  Eggs are layed in the bottom of the water aomg plants to be safe.  Piranha eggs would hatch after 2-3 days.
 

Habitat: Piranhas live mainly in the fresh water of South America: the Amazon's Basin, the Paraguay-Parana Basin, the Northeast of the Brazilian coastal reivers, and in the Essequibo Basin.  They live in a fairly soft acidic water with a temperature of 71-81 degree Fahrenheit.
 

Diet: Native fish, human flesh, jaguars, large cattle, anything thats bloody. 
 

Predators: Humans, caimans, catfish, herons, and ants. 
 

Adaptations:
-It needs its sharp teeth to tear food apart.  It only eats meat, so without it's sharp teeth, it would not survive. 
-Its rough skin makes it difficult for other animal's teeth to penetrate the piranhas body.
-They have also adapted by getting usedto the warm water.
 

Interesting Facts:

-Scientists believe that the ferocity of a pirhana is exaggerated.
-The most dangerous pirhana may reach 2 ft in length!!!!
-The biggest piranhas can measure about 30 centimeters (about the size of a ruler)!
-The jaws are so strong and teeth so sharp that they can chop out a piece of flesh as neatly as a razor.
- Sometimes pirhanas hunt in schools, sometimes of several hundred!!
-Piranhas would have never been famous if it wasn't former president P. Theodore Roosevelt and his book Through the Brazilian Wilderness.
- The color of the Piranha is shimery gold and olive green with re under-belly.
-The Red-Bellied
 

 Bibliography: 

1. "Piranha." International Wildlife Encyclopedia. 1994 ed.
2. "Red Piranha" 26 Mar. 2003 <http://www.scz.org/animals/p/piranha.html>
3.  http://www.andinet.de/bilder/sonst/piranhas.jpg
Date: March 31, 2004

Research by Andre P. 

I got this information from...