Piranha

Piranhas were small schooling predatory freshwater fish.

Description
Piranhas were small fish with black or silver scales and naturally grew up to in length, with the average being. They had bulbous bulging eyes and were infamous for their gaping mouths filled with razor-sharp tiny teeth.

Behavior
Piranhas were known to travel in schools of five and up to fifty individual fish. They were aggressive and were likely to attack any living creature found in the school's vicinity. Once a single drop of blood was spilled, the entire school swarmed the prey in blinding berserk bloodlust. Once they tasted blood, they attacked everything within downstream and  up. The frenzy lasted between sixty and ninety minutes.

Piranhas' bloodlust was dangerous to their kin as well as their prey. When the prey was able to slay a big portion of the school, the frenzied fish often turned to cannibalism, consuming their own.

A shoal of piranhas could strip all flesh of an animal within mere minutes.

Ecology
Piranhas fed mainly on fish but consumed anything living that entered their waters. Similar to sharks, they could smell blood from afar. They had no natural enemies. Piranhas reached reproductive age just a few months after being born and could green all year round, living up to four years.

In the areas where floating eyes could be found, piranhas lived in a symbiotic relationship. Piranhas avoided floating eyes' paralyzing gaze waiting for them to affect bigger prey. Once the prey was immobilized, piranhas swooped in, consuming the creature, while floating eyes were left to gorge on the scraps and remnants.

Chultan piranhas often accompanied aldani, living in symbiosis.

Habitat
Piranhas in the Realms could be found in hot sweltering jungle bodies of water, as well as in cold rivers and lakes. Their main food source was creatures that entered the waters only to be attacked by shoals of blood-frenzied tiny fish.

Piranhas were dangerous inhabitants of swamps like Akhlaur Swamp in Halruaa and Lizard Marsh on the Sword Coast.

The members of the Assassins Guild of the Galenas in Damara built their citadel above the river waters infested with hungry piranhas. Citadel's many traps led directly into the perilous waters.

Piranha could be found in the jungles of Chult. In the waters of River Olung, piranhas were hunters and scavengers, consuming dead creatures who died in the water or on the river shores.

In Maztica, piranha swarms were a constant danger in the swamps and jungle rivers.

Species

 * Cold-water piranhas - species of slammer piranha fund in colder climates.
 * Giant piranha - bigger species of piranha that reach up to long.
 * Saltwater piranhas - creatures, magically summoned by the inhabitants of the Sea of Fallen Stars, often as a part of aquatic traps, via animal summoning I spell.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * The Bloodstone Wars &bull; Fires of Zatal &bull; Wyrmskull Throne
 * Novels
 * The Ring of Winter &bull; Vanity's Brood
 * The Night Parade &bull; The Floodgate
 * Video Games
 * Neverwinter Nights: Darkness over Daggerford
 * Gamebooks
 * To Catch a Thief
 * To Catch a Thief
 * To Catch a Thief