Piaractus
Genus of fishes
Piaractus is a genus of large serrasalmid from South America, and one of several genera colloquially referred to as "pacu". Species in this genus are commonly called pirapatinga.
The two traditionally recognized species of Piaractus are very similar in appearance and were formerly included in the genus Colossoma, which currently only contains another similar species, the tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum). A third Piaractus was described in 2019 as a new species, which was formerly considered a subpopulation of P. brachypomus.
01Species
There are currently three recognized species in this genus:
| Species | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| Piaractus brachypomus
(G. Cuvier, 1818) |
red-bellied pacu | Amazon basin |
| Piaractus mesopotamicus
(Holmberg, 1887) |
small-scaled pacu,
Paraná River pacu |
Paraguay-Paraná basin |
| Piaractus orinoquensis
Escobar et al., 2019 |
Venezuelan pacu | Orinoco basin |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Piaractus”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Piaractus in Sendai Aquarium.jpg by Kinori, CC0
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.