Sickle-band brycon

Brycons head out in search of their favourite fruit trees when the floodwaters begin to rise above the forest floor; that’s when fruits and nuts are ripe and ready for eating.  Like the tambaqui and pirapitinga (other frugivore species), brycons are able to identify which tree species are about to release their fruit, so they congregate beneath those trees and wait.  The fruits barely have time to touch the water before the brycons catch, crush (using their strong teeth) and swallow the food.

These fish typically do such a good job of crushing the fruit and nuts that germination capacity of the seeds is destroyed.  Nevertheless, a small percentage of the ingested seeds are saved from the fish’s crushing jaws and, as such, preserve their ability to germinate.  In the end, these large frugivore fish are important seed dispersers, to the overall benefit of the fruiting trees in the flooded tropical forest.