Reading a Piranha's Menu: teacher key

Red-Bellied Piranhas, grade 12 edition, written for 12th grade and up. Genomes, stomachs and field biologists give different pictures of what red-bellied piranhas eat. Weigh the evidence and see where the sources part ways.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What does Steve Huskey say about piranhas and fins?
   • They eat only fruit
   • They really do not eat things other than fins (answer)
   • They never eat fins
2. What percentage of the 56 stomachs were empty?
   • 44.65% (answer)
   • 55.35%
   • 95.3%
3. What does the genome paper call the species?
   • Fully vegetarian
   • Mostly a carnivorous piscivore (answer)
   • A scavenger only
4. What does the hobbyist profile say about the diet?
   • Piranhas are opportunistic generalists (answer)
   • Piranhas eat only fins
   • Piranhas eat only fruit
5. What does generalist mean?
   • Eating one food
   • Eating nothing
   • Eating many foods (answer)

Words

• genome: all its genes
• generalists: wide eaters
• analysed: studied
• piscivore: fish eater
• spawn: fish eggs
• shoals: fish groups