Meet the museum- Red-bellied Piranha
While people tend to think of these fish as fearsome predators, they are actually very valuable to their ecosystem as scavengers..
The idea that a piranha could rip a human to shreds is probably more legend than fact.
More Bark then bite( They can make a bark, grunt or make thudding or drumming sounds. To do this, they use their swimbladder.)
While piranhas have a reputation for being ferocious man-eaters, they rarely bite and don’t really kill humans. Red-bellied piranhas can be aggressive and have been known to bite humans in the dry season, when food may be scarce, but these are usually not fatal. (Just like our little friends in South Australia Horseshoe Leatherjackets.)
A staple food for indigenous people in the Amazon, piranhas are more likely to be eaten by people than the other way around.
The diet of the piranha usually consists of fish, snails, other aquatic animals, plants, seeds and fruit. Should a mammal or bird fall into piranha infested waters, these busy little fish will devour them in a group, but this isn’t a frequent occurrence. They are opportunistic feeders with a very varied diet. Although they might hunt for small fish insects and invertebrates, they also consume carrion and even plant matter.