Forty red-bellied piranhas have made their debut at Chester zoo in a move aquarists say they hope will help to rehabilitate the fish's name away from its fearsome reputation.
People associate piranhas with viciously attacking unsuspecting prey, as depicted in numerous blockbuster movies, but experts say they prefer to scavenge for food rather than hunt.
It is the first time fish specialists have cared for the species at the zoo in more than 30 years.
The aquarium team manager, Hannah Thomas, said piranhas were “very much misunderstood”.
“They are meat-eaters with sharp teeth that sometimes nip the fins and tails of other fish,” she said. “But a good portion of their diet comes from hoovering up bits of dead flesh and dead fish found in rivers, as well as insects and various plant materials.”
She said they played an important role in maintaining the balance of aquatic ecosystems and that other species would be unable to thrive without them.
“Red-bellied piranhas can often be seen swimming in shoals, but this has little to do with coordinated hunting and is a lot more to do with self-defence. Piranhas often fall victim to larger fish, birds, caimans and Amazon river dolphins so, like many animals, they huddle together for protection,” Thomas said.
The piranhas, which are native to South America, can now be found inside the zoo’s Spirit of the Jaguar habitat in a special Latin American tank, connecting visitors with the underwater world of the Amazon.
The move is part of the zoo’s commitment to a 10-year conservation plan, which by 2031 aims to reverse the decline of 200 threatened populations of species in the wild.
Chester zoo is home to 3,000 species globally, including 140 international animal conservation breeding programmes, which are ensuring the survival of species on the brink of extinction.
It works with a range of partners in more than 20 countries to recover threatened wildlife and restore habitats, including orangutans in Bornean rainforests, elephants and tigers in Indian grasslands, lemurs and frogs in Malagasy forests, rare fish in Mexican lakes and a host of UK species.
It is hoped that closer monitoring of the piranhas will sustain them in their role as natural balancers in the wild.
“They’re a very special species and we as a team are feeling privileged to be able to start caring for them here in Chester and discovering more about them,” Thomas said.
