# What Do Red-bellied Piranhas Eat?

> What red-bellied piranhas eat: Omnivore (mostly carnivorous), foraging style, and seasonal shifts in Amazon rivers, streams, and floodplains.

- **Species:** Red-bellied Piranha (*Pygocentrus nattereri*)
- **Conservation status:** Least Concern
- **Diet:** Omnivore (mostly carnivorous)
- **Habitat:** Amazon rivers, streams, and floodplains
- **Lifespan:** About 10 years
- **Top speed:** Fast in short bursts
- **Canonical HTML:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/piranha/what-do-piranha-eat/
- **Parent profile:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/piranha/
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-16

## Quick answer

The red-bellied piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri) is a freshwater fish of the Amazon basin, famous for its interlocking triangular teeth and reddish belly. Adults grow to about 20 to 35 cm long and weigh up to roughly 1.5 kg, swimming in large shoals through rivers, streams and flooded forests. Despite their fearsome reputation, they are mainly scavengers and opportunistic feeders. They are common and listed as Least Concern.

## Who should skip this page

Skip this if you need a captive feeding plan from a veterinarian. This page is wild diet, not a pet-care sheet.

## Teeth and feeding

Red-bellied piranhas have a single row of sharp, triangular teeth in each jaw that lock together like a pair of scissors, letting them shear off pieces of flesh with a single snap. They are omnivores that are mostly carnivorous, eating fish, insects, crustaceans, worms and carrion, along with seeds and plant matter when animal food is scarce. Feeding frenzies do occur, but usually only when food is limited or a shoal encounters an easy meal such as a dead or injured animal. Much of the time they nip fins and scales from other fish rather than consuming whole prey.

## Help protect the Red-bellied Piranha

Ocean wildlife is under mounting pressure from overfishing, bycatch and plastic pollution.

[Donate to wildlife protection](https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/donate/)

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Source: Global Animal Guide (https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/piranha/what-do-piranha-eat/). Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for non-commercial reuse with attribution.