Something deadly in river. These are piranhas, which I photographed on 'The Wild Coast.' However, they are not only common to Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, but also over much of the upper half of South America.
Something deadly in river. These are piranhas, which I photographed on 'The Wild Coast.' However, they are not only common to Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, but also over much of the upper half of South America.
Some species are highly dangerous in still black water (the diplomat-writer Cecil Gosling once wrote of a police inspector so badly mutilated that he swam to the bank, and shot himself).
Others are less dangerous. But they all have their uses; the Warao tribe (Guyana and Venezuela) traditionally used them to strip down the dead. Meanwhile, in Paraguay, piranhas make a popular (if slightly muddy) soup. The ones in the picture will be eaten by Saramaccaner maroons in Suriname.
