SCP-C216
piranha.jpg
An instance of SCP-C216 in Site-145's aquarium.

Item #: SCP-C216

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: An aquarium suitable for Pygocentrus nattereri is maintained at Site-145; 45 instances of SCP-C216 are contained there at time of writing. All water used in this aquarium must be blessed by a member of the clergy of an established religion. SCP-C216 should be fed regularly with fresh human flesh, currently supplied by Site-145's morgue.

Every instance of SCP-C216 in containment must be equipped with a tracking implant that can provide up-to-date location data from anywhere in the world. The implant is also set to deliver a painful electric shock should SCP-C216 exit its aquarium at any point.

Reports of unexplained injuries at religious ceremonies, especially baptisms, should be investigated for SCP-C216 involvement. SCP-C216 may be effectively lured and captured by placing human flesh laced with poison into a sufficiently large basin of holy water within several kilometers of the instance; in an emergency, recovery personnel should be prepared to use one of their own fingers for this purpose.

Instances of SCP-C216 found in the wild should be killed, unless Site-145's population of SCP-C216 has dropped below 30, in which case they may instead be stunned and transported to Site-145.

Description: SCP-C216 is a subspecies of red-bellied piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri merceri) that is only capable of surviving in holy water. Despite the fact that holy water is chemically identical to non-blessed water from the same source, SCP-C216 will suffocate to death if it is placed in normal water. SCP-C216 is believed to have diverged from baseline Pygoecentrus nattereri 2,500-3,500 years ago.

SCP-C216 is capable of perceiving all holy water in existence as a single, unbroken body of water; this effect extends to sight, hearing, and smell. They are likewise capable of traversing this body of water without regard for physical barriers or distances involved, thus traveling vast distances by 'hopping' between basins, containers, and fonts of holy water that span the intervening area. SCP-C216 are, in theory, capable of reaching any body of holy water on Earth in under an hour.

SCP-C216 exhibits pack hunting behavior that is not commonly observed in Pygocentrus nattereri, as well as the ability to leap up to ten centimetres out of the water to reach food. While SCP-C216 are omnivorous, they prefer human flesh to all other food. SCP-C216 attacks usually result in flesh wounds and the loss of minor appendages; in large quantities, these attacks can be lethal to human infants.

It is not clear why SCP-C216 evolved in this fashion or how they have maintained their population over time.

rating: +2+x
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