Cold Tolerance and Potential Overwintering of the Red-Bellied PiranhaPygocentrus nattereriin the United States
- 1 September 1997
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
- Vol. 126 (5) , 841-849
- https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1997)126<0841:ctapoo>2.3.co;2
Abstract
Red-bellied piranhas Pygocentrus nattereri (also known as red piranhas) acclimated to 15–35°C had critical thermal minima (± SD) from 10.5 ± 0.31°C to 19.7 ± 1.25°C. The chronic thermal minimum (± SD) based on equilibrium loss of fish exposed to decreasing water temperatures of 1°C/d was 10.0 ± 0.15°C. Acclimation temperature incorporated into a second-order polynomial regression model accounted for 97% of variation in critical thermal minima. Fish in the laboratory were unable to capture live goldfish Carassius auratus at temperatures less than 14°C but accepted frozen adult brine shrimp Artemia sp. attemperatures as low as 12°C. When combined with shallow surface water temperature estimates for January, our temperature tolerance and feeding behavior data suggested that red-bellied piranhas may overwinter in nine southern states of the USA with varying degrees of success. Red-bellied piranhas would not overwinter where temperatures fall below 10°C. These fish could overwinter at temperatures of ...Keywords
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