The red piranha is a freshwater fish distributed widely throughout the South American continent. It often travels in shoals but rarely exhibits group hunting behavior.
The red piranha has a reddish tinge to the belly when fully grown. It can reach up to 4 kg in weight and 50 cm in length. The typical diet of red piranhas is omnivorous including fruit, leaves, insects, mollusks, carrion, and fish. In packs of up to hundreds, they feed within minutes on animals as large as egrets or capybara. However, under normal environmental conditions, the red piranha is not aggressive.
Breeding occurs over a two-month period during the rainy season. Females will lay around 5,000 eggs on submerged vegetation in nests that are built by the males.
The photo was captured at Basel Zoo.