The Collegian

Issue date: 10/23/08 Section: News

The biology department piranha lunges at his caretakers from a tank in Dow Science.

Junior Tommy Ogden and his adopted guppy, Fin, barely escaped a nasty bite from a razor-toothed Pike Piranha in the Dow Science Center after a prank.

"That was a near heartbreak," Ogden said.

Ogden was with his friend, junior Jeremiah Krepps, who tends to the piranha. As Krepps fed it goldfish, he decided to toss in "Fin," a red-finned guppy that came with the purchase of the piranha.

"He maliciously tried to feed it to the piranha, and I couldn't stomach it," Ogden said. "So I reached in and saved it. And now he's at home and made best friends with another guppy."

Ogden nearly got a first-hand lesson in Amazon ecology when he put his own hand into the piranha's waters. The fierce, razor-toothed piranha lunged many times. He said he rescued Fin at the "last second."

"I was terrified," he said.

The Pike Piranha has called Hillsdale College home since Associate Professor of Biology Tony Swinehart adopted him from a local aquarium last spring. The Pike Piranha lives in isolation in an aquarium in the Dow Science Center. It will go on display when the revamped Daniel M. Fisk Natural Science Museum opens in the Dow Science Center. The grand opening is tentatively set for fall 2009, Swinehart said.

The Pike Piranha is a rare species in captivity, he said.

"I saw it and recognized it as something I'd never seen before," he said. "The lady [at the store] didn't know it was something different."

He said he is happy with the exotic adoption.

"I got it for $6.95," he said. "If a piranha expert had been there and seen it, he would be asking around $50."

The Pike Piranha lives in the South American Amazon River basin. It is rarely imported, Swinehart said, and its elongated body distinguishes it from other piranha species. It is now only a few inches long but may grow to a foot long. He said the Pike Piranha is especially aggressive, though merely dipping a finger in would not provoke the fish. He said they attack when they run into potential prey.

"He won't swim to the top to eat my finger," said Swinehart, as he dipped his own finger into the water. "If he was swimming around and bumped into my finger, it is likely he's going to take a chunk."

Ogden would have suffered a nasty bite if the fish had reached him in time.

"They're lightning fast," Swinehart said. "It would strike at the feeder fish with lightning speed and decapitate it. You'll see the head go in one direction and the body in another. The teeth are like razor blades."

Krepps knows. He feeds it during chow time.

"The teeth are small and sharp," he said. "It's more quantity than size."

He said he enjoys caring for the piranha.

"It's neat," Krepps said. "It's fun to watch it eat stuff."

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