Piaractus

Piaractus
Juvenile Piaractus brachypomus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Characiformes
Family: Serrasalmidae
Genus: Piaractus
C. H. Eigenmann, 1903
Type species
Myletes brachypomus
G. Cuvier, 1817

Piaractus is a genus of large serrasalmid from South America.[1] 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, but it was formerly considered a subpopulation of P. brachypomus.[4]

  1. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Piaractus". FishBase. April 2013 version.
  2. ^ OPEFE (27 December 2011). genus Piaractus. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  3. ^ Nico, L.; P. Fuller; and M. Neilson (22 October 2013). Piaractus brachypomus. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  4. ^ Escobar, M.D., R.P. Ota, A. Machado-Allison, I.P. Farias and T. Hrbek (2019). A new species of Piaractus (Characiformes: Serrasalmidae) from the Orinoco Basin with a redescription of Piaractus brachypomus. Journal of Fish Biology: [1-x]. doi:10.1111/jfb.13990