Is piranha a freshwater fish Piranha is a freshwater fish. It is a fish of the genus Serrasalmus of the family Characidae, and its scientific name is red-bellied Serrasalmus. This fish is mainly distributed in many rivers from the eastern Andes to the Brazilian Plain, besides the Amazon River, there are also many in the Cuiaba River and Orinoco River. It does not have strict requirements for water quality, likes weak acidic soft water, and generally inhabits places where water flows rapidly.
Piranhas do have records of attacks on humans, but there are almost no cases of cannibalism. This kind of fish is relatively timid, only when the group will be aggressive, usually mainly scavenger, will not attack healthy animals in the river, but for weaker or injured animals, they are very excited. They usually only attack humans when food is scarce and their territory is invaded.
Piranha is particularly sensitive to the smell of blood, it is easy to attract them to attack, this time will change the timid nature, especially crazy bite prey. Preference is usually given to the eyes and tail of prey, and if it is a large animal, it will attack the shoulder. Because of their poor eyesight, they can only distinguish whether they are the same kind by their size. When hunting in groups, they will attack in turn, and when they bite, they will swim away to facilitate their own kind to continue to feed.
