Pygocentrus

Pygocentrus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Division:	Teleostei
Order:	Characiformes
Family:	Serrasalmidae
Subfamily:	Serrasalminae
Genus:	Pygocentrus; J. P. Müller & Troschel, 1844
Type species
	Serrasalmus piraya; G. Cuvier, 1819
Synonyms
	Gastropristis C. H. Eigenmann, 1915 ; Rooseveltiella C. H. Eigenmann, 1915 ; Taddyella H. von Ihering, 1928 ;

Pygocentrus is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Serrasalmidae, which includes the pacus, piranhas and related fishes. All species are native to tropical and subtropical South America. All the species are predatory, scavengers and may form large schools. The famous red-bellied piranha, Pygocentrus nattereri, is one of four species in the genus.

Species

These are the currently recognized species in this genus:

Pygocentrus cariba (Humboldt, 1821) (black spot piranha)
Pygocentrus nattereri Kner, 1858 (red piranha, red-bellied piranha)
Pygocentrus piraya (G. Cuvier, 1819) (San Francisco piranha)

Pygocentrus palometa Valenciennes, 1850 is regarded as a nomen dubium.

References

1 2 Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Serrasalminae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
↑ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Pygocentrus". FishBase. April 2013 version.
1 2 Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Pygocentrus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 19 July 2025.

Fink, W. (1993). "Revision of the piranha genus Pygocentrus (Teleostei, Characiformes)". Copeia. 3: 665–687. doi:10.2307/1447228. JSTOR 1447228.
Machado-Allison, A. & W. Fink. 1996. Los peces caribes de Venezuela> diagnosis, claves, aspectos ecológicos y evolutivos. Universidad Central de Venezuela, CDCH, (Colección Monografías) Caracas, 149p. ISBN 980-00-0967-1
Reis, R. E., S. O. Kullander and C. J. Ferraris, Jr., editors (2003). Check list of the freshwater fishes of South and Central America. CLOFFSCA. EDIPUCRS, Porto Alegre. 2003: i-xi + 1-729

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[Cof_family-1] 1 2 Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Serrasalminae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 19 July 2025.

[fishbase-2] Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Pygocentrus". FishBase. April 2013 version.

[Cof_genus-3] 1 2 Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Pygocentrus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 19 July 2025.