Piaractus is a genus of large serrasalmid from South America,[1] 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).[2][3] A third Piaractus was described in 2019 as a new species, which was formerly considered a subpopulation of P. brachypomus.[4]
Species
There are currently three recognized species in this genus:[1][4][5]
| 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 |
References
- ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). “Species in genus Piaractus“. FishBase. April 2013 version.
- ^ “genus Piaractus“. OPEFE. 27 December 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
- ^ Nico, L.; P. Fuller; M. Neilson (22 October 2013). “Piaractus brachypomus“. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database. Gainesville, FL. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
- ^ a b Escobar, M.D.; R.P. Ota; A. Machado-Allison; I.P. Farias; T. Hrbek (August 2019). “A new species of Piaractus (Characiformes: Serrasalmidae) from the Orinoco Basin with a redescription of Piaractus brachypomus“. Journal of Fish Biology. 95 (2): 411–427. Bibcode:2019JFBio..95..411E. doi:10.1111/jfb.13990. PMID 31017302.
- ^ Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). “Species in the genus Piaractus“. Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 5 July 2019.