The presence of a new, potentially deadly exotic fish resembling the Red Bellied Piranha, Pygocentrus nattereri was reported in India by print media from various aquatic resources. These reports raised dramatic concerns over public health issues and threats to the aquatic biodiversity of India. Considering the potential severity of the issue and concerns raised by the media, we undertook a study to evaluate the reliability of identification reports of the suspected fish, any relationships to other species of piranha and to address any possible threats to the aquatic biodiversity of India. For this study, samples were collected from most of the major river systems and lakes in India and evaluated for taxonomic identifications of the suspect fish and phylogenetic relationships to other fish species. Our results clearly show that the suspect fish is in fact Piaractus brachypomus, a species commonly referred as “Pacu”, and not the red bellied piranha, P. nattereri. Comparisons of both fish do show striking similarities that may account for the misreporting in the media. Furthermore, P. brachypomusas is still an exotic fish, and as such may still have potentially harmful impacts on the native aquatic fauna of India. Quick attention to this issue and the imposition of control measures, including market bans, should be considered to prevent further loss of biodiversity.

出现了一条新的，可能致命的外来鱼类，类似于红腹比拉鱼（Pygocentrus nattereri）来自印度各种水生资源的印刷媒体报道了这一现象。这些报告引起了人们对公共卫生问题以及对印度水生生物多样性的威胁的极大关注。考虑到该问题的潜在严重性以及媒体提出的关注，我们进行了一项研究，以评估可疑鱼类鉴定报告的可靠性，与食人鱼其他物种的任何关系，并解决对印度水生生物多样性的任何可能威胁。在本研究中，从印度大多数主要河流系统和湖泊中收集了样本，并对其进行了可疑鱼类的分类鉴定以及与其他鱼类的系统发育关系的评估。我们的结果清楚地表明，可疑鱼类实际上是Piaractus brachypomus，通常称为“ Pacu”的物种，而不是红色的大腹食人鱼P. nattereri。两种鱼的比较确实显示出惊人的相似性，这可能是媒体报道错误的原因。此外，P。brachypomus仍然是一种外来鱼类，因此可能仍对印度本地水生动物群产生潜在的有害影响。应该考虑迅速注意这个问题，并采取包括市场禁令在内的控制措施，以防止生物多样性的进一步丧失。