BLACK PIRANHA PART 3 CONTINUED

[Wayne Mah]

When it comes to the black piranhas most infamous qualities like
unbelievable aggression towards all other fishes, remarkable
strength and power and unyielding desire to eliminate all and
every possible co-habitant it may come across, including larger
foes than itself, there still remains to this day one
outstanding issue that is unanswered and is an ongoing debate
among those interested in piranhas. The issue is whether we
truly have the real "true black piranhas" that come to the pet
shops or is there really a true black piranha? After countless
debates with everyone from pet shop owners to other piranha
keepers, my answer to anyone is this. If the professional
scientist specializing in piranhas cannot come up with a
definitive answer to the question of whether there really exist
a 'true black piranha', than I d'ont think anyone has the right
to say with absolute certainty that they can say that a particular
specimen is or is not a black piranha. The literature I
presented in Black piranha part 2 bears this out well as there
is much confusion about the true existence if any of the so
called black piranha (S.Niger.)
I have come to the conclusion that if the term "black piranha"
entails such characteristics as 1) dark gray colour, hump-backed
with strongly compressed body, reaches about 14 inches, has red
eyes around a dark iris; 2) behaviour towards other fish
including its own kind is akin to total hatred and
incompatibility, we must be talking about the black piranha in
the generic sense. Moreover, I agree with the authors of the
piranha studies that the changes in the black piranhas bodies as
it grows towards maturity may confuse it with the white piranha
(rhombeus piranha). In fact i find the two fish remarkably
similar physically when they are both under six or seven inches
and quite different over eight inches. Moreover, throughout each
size level, they both are predisposed to attacking without cause
all other habitants of their aquarium.
Specimens of piranhas that come to my local area as black
piranhas usually are of three different species. They usaully
come from their native South America in boxes containing 10 or
so specimens at 3 to 5 inches in length each. Invariably, the
majority of the ten specimens will display acute damage to body
and fins as they are probabably fighting one another thoughout
the trip and is only saved from death by in some cases the
chemical fish importers use to calm fishes down when in
transportation.
One of the three species is in my opinion the species identified
in most piranha books as the STRIOLATUS or atleast a fish I
believe to resemble the striolatus. Little is written about the
striolatus, but my experience with what I like to call the
striolatus, is that it is a fish that is apparently found to
live in the same waters as the black and white piranhas and
displays alot of aggression towards other fishes. However, the
striolatus can be easily distinquished from the black and white
piranha using two visible body differences. The striolatus's
caudal fin has one pronounced dark band covering the first half
of the caudal fin whereas the black and white piranha has two.
Moreover, the striolatus's mouth and chin looks like it ran
right into a wall leaving it perfectly perpendicular to the rest
of its body. the black and white piranhas on the other hand have
a more pointed chin and mouth. The colour and body of all three
at under six inches are fairly similar. The striolatus generally
are solitary piranhas and should be kept alone. It has been my
experience as well as others, that they will attack and harrass
other piranhas including much larger red piranhas. However, they
will only grow up to no more than 6 inches and they do have a
smaller mouth than the red, black and the white piranha thus
limiting their ability to really harm other piranhas. This
species of piranhas does display a rather aggressive picture
of itself as it likes to constantly attack the aquarium glass,
which in turn convinces unsuspecting buyers that it is a black
piranha. In terms of aggressiveness, it is less aggressive than
the black and white but more aggressive than the red piranha.
Should be kept alone.
Black and White Piranhas or S.niger and S.Rhombeus.
Although there are many pictures of what many piranha authors
feel is the black piranha, i have yet seen one that look like
the ones i own or have seen on display at public aquarias in
the U.S. and Canada. But, the pictures you do see in piranha
books showing the white "rhombeus" piranha is identical to what
I see and consider as the white piranha avaliable in Canada and
is either sold as the black or rhombeus piranha. As I was saying
earlier, the black and white piranha are practically identical
in body appearance under six inches in size. There are very
minute differences that separate the two, and i can honestly say
that i sometimes am hard press to be able separate the two. The
black piranha has a very slightly larger jaw and head. In most
cases it will have red around the iris of its eyes whereas, in
most cases the white piranha has white around its black iris. In
terms of behaviour at this size range, both piranhas are totally
solitary and will not accept any other fish larger of smaller in
its tank. Both will attack all living creatures in its tank
until either it or its foe are dead. The rhombeus are more shy
and particular like to hide in plants or behind large objects.
When prey food is presented, the white piranha will stealthly
attack from its hiding place, nipping at its preys tail and
fins. When in fighting posture, the white piranha strikes or
threatens its enemy by pointing its mouth towards the surface of
the aquarium before striking.
The black piranha on the other hand likes to swim more and tends
to try to eat its prey in one or two bites as it has a larger
mouth. When it prepares to fight or strike out at a foe it does
the opposite of the white piranha. It points its mouth and jaw
towards the bottom of the aquarium before striking like red
piranhas do.
When the black and white piranha reaches over six inches, the
differences really start to reveal itself. First of all the
white piranha as far as i know, doesn't grow much more than 9
inches as its smaller body and mouth are more suited to taking
bits off its prey, thus lending itself to reaching smaller
statute than the black. Moreover, Its body remains somewhat thin
and very silver coloured with a rather sharp pointed chin and
mouth. It really remains the same looking except for a more
prominent hump back.
The black piranha on the other hand starts to become thicker,
much more darker and grayer. It will also start to show a bump
on its chin resulting from constant crashing into the aquarium
glass as it attempts to attack anything that moves outside the
aquarium. Moreover, the black piranha does grow up to 14 inches
and in one case, I have a videotape of a black piranha in Quebec
City Aquaria that was maybe 16 inches in length. At this size
their head and jaw are very large, even much larger than similar
size red piranhas. Their bodies are usually gray with their gill
and belly being slightly yellowish. When left in the dark for
awhile, and then the lights are put on , they appear to be very
dark throughout their body.
The Black piranha Conclusion Tommorrow!

WAYNE MAH
LAW LIBRARY
YORK UNIVERSITY, 4700 KEELE ST.
NORTH YORK ONTARIO. M3J 1P3
EMAIL AT wm...@yorku.ca (TEL) 416-736-5206