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There
are in fact at least a dozen different species, belonging
to the characin group of fishes. Most eat fallen fruit
not as thrilling as stripping a carcass to the bone, but
there is no doubt they play an important part in the local
ecology. Most people think that if they visit the Amazon
river in Brazil and fall off a boat they will be eaten by
schools of piranha fish and this is a constant danger there.
Far from it, piranhas tend to hunt for food alone and not
in schools and will not bite people unless they are given
the opportunity and they are very hungry.
The most notorious type of piranha is the red piranha because
when we think of colorful fish , we don't usually think
about ones with razor sharp teeth. Their mouth is designed
to chomp off pieces of flesh in a single bite to be swallowed
whole. They have a single row of triangular teeth that fit
together resembling an animal trap. The teeth are razor
sharp and before the invention of scissors Indian tribes
would use the jaws of dead piranha to cut with.
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