Pygocentrus

Pygocentrus is a genus of the piranha family Serrasalmidae. 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.

There are currently four recognized species in this genus:

• Pygocentrus cariba (Humboldt, 1821) (black spot piranha) – Orinoco river basin.
• Pygocentrus nattereri Kner, 1858 (red piranha, red-bellied piranha) – Amazon, Paraguay-Paraná-Uruguay, and Essequibo river basins, as well as various river in northeastern Brazil.
• Pygocentrus palometa Valenciennes, 1850 – Orinoco river basin, possibly a nomen dubium.
• Pygocentrus piraya (G. Cuvier, 1819) (San Francisco piranha) – São Francisco River

• 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