Cyprinidae: Gyrinocheilus Aymonieri Cobitidae Cobitis

Sunday, 22 July 2012

Gyrinocheilus Aymonieri Cobitidae Cobitis

Prior to OPEFE closing (2000), it had the unfortunate history of being home to over 168 donated red-bellied pacus in the last 6 years. The silver dollars are considered harmless species due to their herbivorous diet. The larger pacus are important in not only providing sustenance for the Indians, but the fishes method of defecating undigested seeds which replenish the rainforest. As a whole they are opportunistic feeders and will eat small fish on occasion. Their close appearance to their relative, the piranha, has caused some concerns in the past. G. S. Myers (A monograph of the Piranha (1949) say in part; "some of the fishes described and figured in the aquarium literature as piranhas, are not piranhas at all, and the dictionary definition of piranha is misleading in that it includes many fishes which have never been and could not be called piranhas, simply because their diet is mostly vegetarian.