Black death!

More piranhas. Now I've mentioned before that I enjoy the odd spot of fishing and fancy myself as a bit of a fisherman. My better half is assuredly not a keen fisherwoman but out on the Orinoco she picked up one of the wooden sticks and dangled a bit of steak very very briefly. I say very briefly because about a minute later, and with only the absolute minimum of panicked shrieking, she boated the fish below. She then returned it, declaring that as it turns out I was wrong and fishing is very easy, and went back to reading her book.

This is Serrasalmus rhombeus a species which is amusingly known as both the black piranha and the white piranha. Its also known as the redeye piranha for slightly more conclusive reasons. Its a widespread species tolerant of a range of water conditions from true amazon blackwater to clear whitewater. Its also one of the more commonly seen captive species and one of the biggest of the true piranhas. It took me a considerably longer amount of time than the fiancee to get one of these. I ldid lose a couple of bigger ones but that's just because I was holding out for a little one so you could see the juvenile form - honest!

You can see that legendary dentition quite well in this photo, also you can see the feint grey dots and the line on the tail that make the younger fish slightly prettier. The rhombus shape that gives the latin name to the species also tends to kick in more when they are older too. Incidentally if anyone has been watching the ridiculously titled "river monsters" on animal planet this is the same species Jeremy Wade caught in this clip. I note Jeremy went with the fancy baitcaster reel instead of tying a bit of nylon to a stick. If anyone at animal planet is reading this surely my commitment to traditional methods in the face of killer fish should earn me a role hosting the next series? please?