The red-bellied pacu is related to the flesh-eating piranha, but unlike its notorious cousin it feeds mainly on insects and vegetation. It uses its large, humanlike choppers as a tool for cracking open rubber tree nuts, crushing seeds and chopping up sea herbs and various other food sources.
Image Credit: Daniel Huertas/Icon Films
Although the red-bellied pacu's natural diet consists mainly of insects, fruits and nuts, it started feeding on other fish in 1999 when its usual food sources became scarce.
Image Credit: Daniel Huertas/Icon Films
This food scarcity may explain a recent rash of attacks on humans. In 2001, two fishermen in two separate incidents reportedly bled to death after their genitals had been bitten off by pacu fish.
Image Credit: Daniel Huertas/Icon Films
Determining the gender of red-bellied pacu can be difficult. One distinction is that adult males have more red on their bellies than females.
Image Credit: Daniel Huertas/Icon Films

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Red-Bellied Pacu Pictures

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The red-bellied pacu is related to the flesh-eating piranha, but unlike its notorious cousin it feeds mainly on insects and vegetation. It uses its large, humanlike choppers as a tool for cracking open rubber tree nuts, crushing seeds and chopping up sea herbs and various other food sources.

 

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Red-Bellied Pacu Pictures
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The red-bellied pacu is related to the flesh-eating piranha, but unlike its notorious cousin it feeds mainly on insects and vegetation. It uses its large, humanlike choppers as a tool for cracking open rubber tree nuts, crushing seeds and chopping up sea herbs and various other food sources. 1 The red-bellied pacu is related to the flesh-eating piranha, but unlik…
Although the red-bellied pacu's natural diet consists mainly of insects, fruits and nuts, it started feeding on other fish in 1999 when its usual food sources became scarce. 2 Although the red-bellied pacu's natural diet consists mainly of insect…
This food scarcity may explain a recent rash of attacks on humans. In 2001, two fishermen in two separate incidents reportedly bled to death after their genitals had been bitten off by pacu fish. 3 This food scarcity may explain a recent rash of attacks on humans. In …
Determining the gender of red-bellied pacu can be difficult. One distinction is that adult males have more red on their bellies than females. 4 Determining the gender of red-bellied pacu can be difficult. One disti…