Calophysus macropterus
species of fish
Calophysus macropterus, known natively as the piracatinga/pirácatina, piranambú, pintadinho, zamurito, water buzzard, or by its popular English name vulture catfish, is a species of catfish (order Siluriformes) of the monotypic genus Calophysus of the family Pimelodidae. It is sometimes placed in its own family, Calophysidae.
Description
This species reaches 40 centimetres (16 in) SL, though lengths of 71 centimetres (28 in) have been reported. It originates from the Amazon and Orinoco basins, which encompasses waterways in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela.
The vulture catfish is so named because it is an active scavenger, seeking carcasses in its native waterways to consume in shoals; its feeding action promotes the skeletonization of its food items - they are able to consume all the muscles and viscera from an 80 kilograms (180 lb) cadaver within half an hour - though it apparently avoids feeding on cartilage elements, eyeballs, scalps, and limb extremities. Its voracious nature has led to it becoming an important species in forensic pathology, especially concerning those victims whose corpses ended up in rivers; C. macropterus is often found in association with the cadaver even after it is extracted from the water, often being found under the victim's clothing. This species is also stated to commonly attack fish caught in fishermen's nets and seines as well as those hooked on trotlines or gaffed. They also seem to congregate in areas where fishermen and fishmongers dispose of fish offal.
In the aquarium
This fish is one of the smaller pimelodids available in the trade, and may be appropriate for a large aquarium. It is an adaptable and hardy species.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3754015. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Calophysus macropterus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.