Pristobrycon maculipinnis Fink & Machado-Allison, 1992 is a species of fish of the subfamily Serrasalminae which includes the "caribes", "palometas caribe" or "piranha

Piranha

A piranha or piraña is a member of family Characidae in order Characiformes, an omnivorous freshwater fish that inhabits South American rivers. In Venezuela, they are called caribes...

s". This species is endemic of Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

.

Habitat

Habits mainly in black or clear acidic waters in Amazonas State of Venezuela (High Orinoco). Type locality is a back water of the Pamoni River, Casiquiare River Basin.

Description

This is a beautiful fish (pictures in:www.pecesdevenezuela.com). Body discoid to oval with the anterodorsal slighthly convex. Head robust and wide. Snout blunt. Preanal spine and ectopterygoid teeth absent. Adipose fin wide. Head dark or black in adults with mandibular and opercular areas dark red. Iris golden yellow with a dark transversal band. Body with methalic greyish laterally with numerous bands and spot giving a marmoled apparence. Abdominal area dark red. Ventral serrations and fins covered with dark spots. Dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins with external red rays. Adipose fin dark with several spots. and

Behaviour

Predatory fish. Consuming smaller fish and attacking fins, juveniles include aquatic insects and crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

s (shrimps). Frequently included fruits from the surrounding gallery forest. This is a solitary species. Never seen in schools.