Common names from other countries
Teleostei (teleosts) >
Characiformes (Characins) >
Serrasalmidae (Piranhas and pacus) > Colossomatinae
Etymology: Piaractus: Greek, piar = fat, the side with grease of a body + Greek, aktos , ago = to carry.
Issue
See Géry (1986: 102) for more detail.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Freshwater; demersal; potamodromous (Ref. 51243). Subtropical; 15°S - 38°S, 66°W - 42°W
South America: Paraguay-Paraná River basin.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 40.5 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 39031); max. published weight: 20.0 kg (Ref. 32894)
Dark grey to silver dorsally and laterally and white ventrally with a yellow breast.
Invades the flooded forests to feed on nuts and seeds which fall from trees (Ref. 32894). Reaches around 50.0 cm SL (Ref. 81048).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae
Assuming standard characid reproduction. Replace ASAP.
Lovshin, L.L., 1995. The colossomids. p. 153-159. In C.E. Nash and A.J. Novotny (eds.) World animal science: production of aquatic animals: fishes. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (Ref. 32894)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)
CITES (Ref. 128078)
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: commercial
Tools
Special reports
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.7500 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.02455 (0.01070 - 0.05632), b=3.00 (2.80 - 3.20), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 2.0 ±0.00 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): Moderate vulnerability (39 of 100).