Why Are Piranha Fish so Dangerous?
Why Are Piranha Fish so Dangerous? In South American Rivers swims one of the world’s most dangerous fish – the piranha. There are many species of piranha; they belong to the genera Pygocentrus and Serrasalmus.
This savage fish is only ten or so inches long, but its teeth are so sharp and its jaws are so strong, it can chop a piece of flesh from an animal or a human as neatly as a razor.
Piranhas are world-famous for their razor-sharp teeth. Native peoples of South America will catch the piranha and use their teeth to make tools and weapons.
Even the fishermen who catch these vicious little predators have to be careful when the fish is out of water. A single piranha out of water is still dangerous enough to take off the flesh, or the odd toe, from an unwary fisherman.
Piranhas often travel in schools of several hundred. Their diet usually consists of other fish. But if an animal happens to be in the water near a school of hungry piranhas, they attack and devour it instantly.
Animals as big as a horse have been eaten down to a bare skeleton in only a few minutes. When a school of piranha is in a feeding frenzy the water appears to boil and churn red with blood.
They attack with such ferocity that they strip an animal of its flesh even taking bites out of each other in the process.