# Healing powers of Piranha's



## Olson (Feb 15, 2003)

this is a pic of my Maculatus two weeks or so ago..









this is yesterday after several wter changes higher temp and a bit of salt..








All the fins are completly back but the dorsal has a little way to go yet and all scales have returned.I was amazed at how fast all this healed I thought as bad of shape as he was in it would be atleast a month


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## InSinUAsian (Jan 3, 2003)

OMG, You have one of those new Pygos. LoL









Yeah, P's have amazing regeneration ability, espeacially of fins. In their natural habitat, fins are preyed upon by a whole meriad of "fin predators" including other fellow P's. If they didnt grow back quickly, P's would be SOL very quickly.

Nice Mac by the way. What size tank, and how is he?
~Dj


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

If you give permission, I would like to incorporate your photos of this regeneration to compliment my own work, providing you credit for those photos. If you have dates on the start of injury to the present status that will be helpful. My page is often used by medical profession that are researching this morphophallaxism.

Pirana Regeneration


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## Olson (Feb 15, 2003)

absolutly you can Frank also can go to this thread for another pic 
http://www.piranha-fury.com/forum/pfury/in...t=ST&f=3&t=3435

I took the first pics on April 14 and the present pics on April 28th
I got him on the 14th of April and thast how it looked the actual date of injury I am not sure about.He was shoaled with a few other Spilos and Macs and took a beating.I am not familer enough with this species to knowe if his dorsal fin is all the way healed but in other pics it seems to be larger.

I did water changes around every 3 days or so at 20% and added around 1 tablespoon of salt for every 10 gallons in a 75g tank.The temp was at 84 degrees F


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

Send me a PM on how you want your name to appear for credit.

I'll incorporate these dates: I took the first pics on April 14, and the present pics on April 28th, 2003 respectively.


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## Olson (Feb 15, 2003)

Jeremy Olson is fine I will aslo take some more pics in another week to keep you updated


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## Mr. Hannibal (Feb 21, 2003)

Good example of piranhas healing capacity. I've seen this before in my own Ps...it takes about 2 weeks for fins to heal and about a month or so for flesh regeneration...simply amazing isn't it?


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

Photos, text and references added.

New addition to Body Repair Piranhas


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## o snap its eric (Feb 19, 2003)

you lucky punk! i want my name on the opee website. hehe. i'll take pics of my shoal of reds with jacked up fins and once they heal i take pics of them again. what do you say about that frank =) hehe


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

For those interested in piranha regeneration, check this out: http://www.predatoryfish.net/ibforums/inde...17983&hl=cariba


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## Neoplasia (Feb 16, 2003)

Btw, if the images in that link didn't work for anyone I fixed them.


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

That is simply amazing...... I wonder what enables them to heal so fast, good work taking the pics Olson, when I saw the pics when you first got it I thought he might be a goner....


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

Since you asked: Here is a definition for you:

© ICSU Press 1997 p. 535 BIO1258

Regeneration and scientific terminology 
Sir, 
In her otherwise excellent review article, Signaling molecules in regenerating hydra(1), Brigitte Galliot tells us that 'the hydra regeneration process is epimorphic', and mentions the 'contradictory usages in the literature' of that term. She then cites Goss' definition(2) of epimorphic regeneration as follows: 'Epimorphic regeneration refers to the regrowth of amputated structures from an anatomical (sic) complex stump. This may involve either (the) replacement of parts of appendages or (the) regeneration of fractions of organisms into new complete individuals after their bisection.' We are then informed that 'in contrast to other cases of epimorphic regeneration, hydra regeneration mostly follows a morphallactic process, meaning that it does not depend on cell proliferation'(1).

If we examine Goss' article, as well the origins of the terms 'epimorphic' and 'morphallactic', we find that Galliot's use of terminology has only served to confuse matters further. After the sentences quoted by Galliot, Goss goes on to state: 'Whatever it is that must be regenerated, the sequence of events by which its replacement is achieved is essentially the same. The first event in epimorphic regeneration is the development of a blastema, or regeneration bud, derived from dedifferentiated cells, out of which the new structure will take shape.'(2). Galliot, however, makes it clear that hydra does not form a blastema during regeneration, thus contradicting the very definition of epimorphic regeneration she cites.

T. H. Morgan coined the term 'morpholaxis' in an 1898 paper on regeneration in the planarian, Planaria maculata (now referred to as Girardia tigrina): 'Thus, the relative proportions of the planarian are attained by a remodelling of the old tissue. I would suggest that this process of transformation be called a process of morpholaxis.'(3). In his 1901 monograph, Regeneration, Morgan further clarified his definitions (and changed the spelling of 'morpholaxis' to the etymologically more correct 'morphallaxis'): 'At present there are known two general ways in which regeneration may take place, although the two processes are not sharply separated, and may even appear combined in the same form. In order to distinguish broadly these two modes I propose to call those cases of regeneration in which a proliferation of material precedes the development of the new part, 'epimorphosis'. The other mode, in which a part is transformed directly into a new organism, or part of an organism without proliferation at the cut surfaces, 'morphallaxis.'(4).

Morgan's definitions are, therefore, quite clear: epimorphosis requires cell proliferation, whereas morphallaxis does not. Given the fact that these definitions remain useful for describing different modalities of regeneration, we see no reason to abandon them. Galliot, herself, accepts the original definition of morphallaxis, but inexplicably rejects the historical definition of epimorphosis. All regenerating organisms live by Bert Lance's statement, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' We recommend that scientists studying regeneration also follow this rule with respect to scientific terminology.


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

When I bought my first Rhom from a LFS he was sharing a tank with another one, The other had been eaten to the line I've drawn on the image below. I asked the guy at the store what he was going to do with him, he said I could have it.I brought him home and added him to a 10 gallon tank I had set up.
Over the next few months the wound closed and healed over , the anal fin had re-grown to the left of center of the wound almost to the dorsal fin.(Similar to where the red is ) He was unbalanced, being very nose heavy but managed to catch feeders and get around surprisingly well.I had him for almost 6 months before switching him to a tank that I picked up from a friend (who had used the wrong silicone to re-seal the tank.) He was dead the next day.


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## phensway (Apr 7, 2003)

damn that was amazing............ good idea to take the before and after pic


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## Piranha King (Nov 28, 2002)

nice job healing him up olson.
wes


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