Saturday, August 9, 2008

MYTH - FACT

Red-belly Piranha


The Myth

Piranhas are ferocious and deadly!!!

The Fact

Piranhas do have sharp little teeth and can give you a nasty nip. They do sometimes swim in large schools, but only to defend themselves against natural predators, such as river dolphins. Piranhas are predators of smaller fish and shrimp. They do have to be kept in even-numbered groups in aquariums to stop them ganging up on an odd one out.

There are no records of piranha attacking and killing live humans. Only few examples of bites from careless handling of piranha out of the water demonstrate the potential for injury. They see color. Brazilian fishermen use a red piece of cloth or piece of red meat to fish with and piranhas do react to this color. They do not habitually attack humans. In fact, humans eat more piranhas than the other way around!

It is a shame that we have made the piranha a larger-than-life monster.

6 comments:

The Man Under the Mango Tree said...

The piranha, found in certain rivers in South America, has a pair of powerful jaws armed with cutting teeth. These cut as clean as a pair of scissors. Piranhas normally eat small fish. But they will attack anything in the water.

Bay Martin said...

They attack anything bleeding in water. They feed on injured animals and fish attacking in pack and consume flesh rapidly.

Anonymous said...

I haven't really encountered piranhas in real life. I've seen a lot of them in movies and because they're always shown as deadly fish, I thought it's better to keep it that way. LOL. But this is a nice information. It somehow changed my perception about them.:)

Anonymous said...

This postie reminds me of "O...". Because of his dental abnormalities (sharp projections), the group branded him as "piranha."

Bay Martin said...

Thanks a heap, Marydane. Your visit and comment are sincerely appreciated. I was made to believe the same thing!

Bay Martin said...

@ Ramon

Yes, I remember him. He is no longer here. Suplado mo ha, bakit buo pa ba ang dentures mo? Baka parang sa pating naman ang mga ngipin mo ha ha ha!!!