Dorado Salminus brasiliensis

Cuvier, 1816 syn. S. maxillosus

CHARACIDAE FAMILY


This South American fish is found in the rivers of the São Francisco River system of Brazil, the Paraguay and Uruguay River systems, the Magdalena River system of Colombia and the Paran River of Argentina. It also occurs in the Rio de la Plata and has been introduced into the Paralba and Doce rivers of Brazil. It apparently does not occur in the Amazon and Orinoco basins as once believed. This misconception, widespread in literature, appears to be due to confusion with another species that occurs in the Amazon and Orinoco and which is called dorado in that region, but is actually the piraba.

The name dorado is Spanish for “golden.” The same name is used in Spanish language areas of the Caribbean for the dolphin (Coryphaena hippurus). Both species are predominantly golden in color with blue, orange, and yellow overtones or highlights. There is a shock of blue in the center of the tail. In general body shape the dorado greatly resembles a salmon with a golden body and a somewhat scalloped tail. The position and shape of the fins is also the same as in the salmons. There is an adipose fin after the dorsal fin, and an axillary process. The head looks like a bluefish's head, machine tooled in gold with blue highlights. The lower jaw is stout and strong, and there is a double row of teeth, the outer row consisting of strong canines.

Unlike the salmons, it does not die after spawning and never ventures beyond the river mouth into the open sea. It is a good food fish and an excellent sport fish. It is powerful and huge, and its mouth has been described as a “steel trap”

Tambaqui Colossoma macropomum

Cuvier, 1818

CHARACIDAE FAMILY
Also known as black pacu, cachama, blackfin pacu, morocoto, pacú

Native to the Amazon and Orinoco river basins of South America, the tambaqui has also been reported in Florida, Hawaii, California and Texas, where all introductions were probably from aquarium releases.

Tambaqui are oval-shaped fishes with distinctive counter-shading, being black ventrally and golden to olive or moss green dorsally. The pattern varies with the water type, with darker colors in dark rivers and lighter, duller hues in turbid water. Tambaqui look like their sharp-tooth cousins, the piranhas, but they possess a unique dentition. The teeth are multicusped molariform and incisive teeth. Tambaqui posses no maxillary teeth in contrast to the pirapitinga (Colossoma bidens) and all Brycon species. There are two rows of teeth in the upper jaw and pair of conical teeth behind the row of teeth in the lower jaw. The strong jaws and teeth enable them to crush large and often quite hard fruits and seeds of rubber trees and palm trees upon which they feed. A secondary feeding adaptation found in the mouth of the tambaqui is long and fine gillrakers that are used, especially in young fish in feeding on zooplankton.

At flood times, tambaqui are found in the flooded forests. During the dry season, they stay in rivers and fishing becomes more productive. Anglers locate tambaqui by finding a tree with ripe fruit or seeds; there fish can be found waiting to devour the fruit as it falls into the water. Fruits and seeds or imitations of them are used as bait and the most suitable tackle is medium to heavy, for tambaqui are fish of brutal force and endurance that can grow to 50 kg (110 lb).

Subsistence fishermen often wait beneath the trees where they harpoon the giant characins when they surface to take the floating seeds. This fish is the largest characin in the region and is an important food fish as well as an angling target. There's a high demand for this species for aquaculture because it can live in mineral poor waters and is very resistant to diseases

Tigerfish, giant Hydrocynus goliath

Boulenger, 1898

CHARACIDAE FAMILY
Also called goliath tigerfish

The giant tigerfish is restricted to the Zaire River system, Lualaba River, Lake Upemba and Lake Tanganyika.

It is overall silvery in color with no conspicuous stripes. A few broad stripes may show up under the scales after death. It has fourteen or more teeth in the upper jaw and very short gill rakers, less than one third the length of the gill filaments. The largest giant tigerfish may exceed 110 lbs (50 kg) but stories of fish weighing up to 132 lb (60 kg) have yet to be authenticated.

Its ferocious appearance gives ample indication of its predatory habits. This strong fighter is one of the great freshwater game fish species. It jumps repeatedly when hooked, will take almost any kind of bait, including artificial and is powerful even when taken on heavy tackle. A wire leader is essential due to the sharp teeth

Tigerfish Hydrocynus vittatus

Castelnau, 1861

CHARACIDAE FAMILY
Also called tiervis, ngweshi, maluvali, mcheni, muvanga, manga, shabani, simu kuta, uthlangi, uluthlangi

Vittatus tigerfish has a wide distribution from west Africa to the Nile and southward to the Zaire, Zambezi, and Limpopo systems. It occurs in Lake Turkana (L. Rudolph) which was once connected to the Nile but has not been able to cross the Murchison Falls and reach Lake Victoria nor has it been able to colonize Lake Kivu from Lake Tanganyika.

The tigerfishes belong to the Characidae family, a large and diverse family containing "toothy critters" such as the potentially dangerous piranhas, biara and payara found in South America and the beautiful tetras and pacus familiar to home aquarists.

They are more vividly colored than the larger goliath tigerfish with silvery flanks and a bluish sheen on the back. The deeply forked caudal fin is red edged with black, the adipose fin is black anteriorly, clear posteriorly. The pectoral and pelvic fins are tinged with red or orange as is the anterior part of the anal fin. Black horizontal stripes run through each scale row and persist long after death. They also have gill rakers that are long, approximately equal to the gill filaments. They grow to about 34 lbs (15.5 kg).

They are efficient active predators, feeding on fish up to 40% of their own length. They have fantastic appetites, and readily take artificial lures, live bait such as the Lake Tanganyika sardines (kapenta) and even prey on their own species.

The tigerfishes are among the best known and most important game fishes in Africa, commanding high respect amongst anglers, and as such, an important asset to the tourist industry. They are one of the most important components of commercial catches

Piranha, red Pygocentrus nattereri

CHARACIDAE FAMILY
Also called piranha-caju, carube bica de locha, palometa, prianha vermelha, pana

The red piranha, hails from South America; the Amazon Basin, Paraguay Parana Basin, Northeast Brazilian coastal rivers, Essequibo Basin. It also has been introduced to reservoirs. It is common in creeks and interconnected ponds in Matto Grosso, Brazil and in Rio Machado and Rio Negro. Red piranha swim in large schools, making this carnivorous species a formidable hunting group. The large schools can be a nuisance to sport fishermen, requiring them to make a move or catch only piranha.

The stocky body is oval in shape with a blunt head, protruding lower jaw and single rows of very sharp, triangular teeth in each jaw. Teeth are replaced on alternating sides of the jaw, allowing continuous feeding. With its brilliant red belly, the red piranha is the considered to be the most beautiful of the piranha species.

This extremely aggressive species is relatively easily caught on natural or artificial baits. It will enthusiastically attack plugs as large or larger than itself. Red piranha reportedly grow to 13 in (33 cm) and 9 lb (4 kg). Even small fish should be handled with respect. Piranhas tend to snap their jaws defensively and careless handling can result in serious injury.

All piranha are considered good table fare. In some regions they are highly sought as food