Red Eye Piranha
Name: Red Eye Piranha (Serrasalmidae Serrasalmus S. Rhombeus)
When: Late September 2023
Where: Kendjam Lodge, Kayapo Territory, Iriri River, Amazonas, Brazil
A nice sized, almost top of the range size, red-eyed piranha. I caught a couple others, but this was the first and nicest sized. You can see how happy the Kayapo guide is. Funny, he didn’t want me touching it. I think he didn’t want a client to lose a fingertip at the beginning of the trip.
I caught it in a fast-moving stream in clear water. Like the other more translucent fish in moving water, it wasn’t easy to see but its body cast a slight shadow.
It is known by a couple of names – black piranha, white piranha, spotted or yellow piranha but the red eyes on this one stood out. All of these are distinguished by the red eyes while the color is dependent on the local water conditions/environment.
The Piranhas are opportunistic feeders and will eat plants, fruits that fall into the water and parts of fish they bite off. They are also big scavengers eating whatever falls into the water column.
You can see an example of this on my previous posts where I mention 2-3 species that had bites out of them - including on the Rubber Pacu.
I posted a short video of a beautiful Leopard Stingray which had multiple Piranha bites. See here:
Because of the Rhombus shape of its body, it is fun fish to catch on a lighter weight rod, especially considering what an incredible environment you have at Kendjam. Fun fish to catch – but be careful on your fly removal.
The fish was relatively recently (1766) taxonomized because much of its underlying habitat (Amazons) didn’t have a written history of taxonomy. This fish, and other species of Piranhas have become part of many fishtanks.