Spelunky is © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC, and is used under the [Spelunky User License v1.1b](https://spelunky.ai/LICENSE.txt). spelunky.ai is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Mossmouth. The game and its assets may not be sold. Music by George Buzinkai and Jonathan Perry; sound effects made in SFXR. From Spelunky Classic 1.1, © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC. # Piranha From the spelunky.ai wiki: . Verified against the spelunky.ai port [v0.1.10](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/releases/tag/v0.1.10) on 27 October 2026. The Piranha is a small fish in Spelunky Classic that lives in the Jungle's water and swims at a player in the water, biting for 1 heart. ![A tiny dark fish with a red belly and bared teeth, swimming](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/media/1f61a00df79ad623/sprites/sPiranhaLeft/anim%404x.png) | Piranha | | | --------- | --------------------------------------- | | Health | 1 hit point[^1] | | Damage | 1 heart[^2] | | Speed | 1 pixel per step[^3][^4] | | Behaviour | Patrols the water; attacks swimmers[^5] | | Object | `oPiranha` | | Found in | The Jungle | | Drops | Fish Bone | Level generation puts Piranhas in the water of the Jungle, from its pools to the lakes of flooded levels. A Piranha leaves a player on dry land alone, but once he's swimming near it, it swims straight at him and bites, and a pool may hold several. With 1 hit point, it dies to any damage, but a swimming player can't stomp it. ## Behaviour A Piranha swims back and forth at 1 pixel per step, turning around where the water ends or a wall is in its way[^6]. It starts out heading left or right at random[^7], and lets off a bubble every 31–51 steps[^8]. **Clip: Piranhas bite.** The player drops into a pool, and the piranhas in it swim at him and bite, a heart at a time. ([video](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/media/1f61a00df79ad623/clips/piranha/bite/clip.mp4)) When the player is swimming within 90 pixels of it, and alive, it attacks: it swims straight at him at 1 pixel per step (30 per second), its heading wobbling by a degree each step, and moves only while the way ahead is water[^9][^10]. The game moves it in whole pixels on each axis, so on a diagonal it covers 1 pixel across and 1 up or down in a step[^11]. When he leaves the water or its range, it stops for 20–40 steps (0.67–1.33 seconds) and then patrols again[^12][^13]. The clip shows the player dropping into a pool and two Piranhas closing in on him. A Piranha also hunts other monsters in the water. It looks at the nearest living [Caveman](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/caveman), or if there's none, the nearest Shopkeeper, then Hawkman, then [Yeti](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/yeti), and if that one is swimming, swims at it and, within 4 pixels of it, bites it for 1 hit point at most once every 10 steps[^14][^15][^16]. **Out of the water.** A Piranha whose middle isn't in water turns into a Fish Bone at once[^17]. **Off screen.** Unlike most monsters, a Piranha has no check of its own for being on screen: it swims on wherever the game keeps it running, which is up to 96 pixels outside the view, past which the game freezes everything[^18][^19]. ## Damage When the player touches a Piranha without stomping it, he loses 1 heart, is knocked away from it, and blinks, invincible, for 30 steps (1 second), and the bite draws blood[^20][^21]. This is the touch code most monsters share. The clip shows two bites, a second apart, taking the player from four hearts to two. ## Defeating A Piranha has 1 hit point, so any damage kills it[^22]: | Way | Damage | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----- | | Whip | 1 hit point | [^23] | | Machete | 2 hit points | [^23] | | Stomp (landing on it), except while the player is swimming | 1, plus 1 for every 16 steps of falling; three times that with Spike Shoes | [^24] | | A thrown item moving faster than 2 pixels per step, such as a Rock | 1 | [^25] | | A Shotgun or Pistol bullet | 4 hit points | [^26] | | A Bomb's explosion | 30 hit points | [^27] | | Being out of the water | Turns it into a Fish Bone | [^17] | The Piranha's own step event replaces the one most monsters share, which is where Spikes, Lava and Spear Traps hurt them, so none of those harm a Piranha[^28]. Piranhas killed count toward the player's kills, and the screen between levels draws a Piranha icon for each[^29][^30]. One that turns into a Fish Bone out of the water isn't killed, so it isn't counted. ## Locations Level generation makes Piranhas only in the Jungle: each water block with no solid block in it has a 1 in 30 chance of one. That includes the lakes of flooded levels; on a graveyard level, the same roll makes a [Dead Fish](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/dead-fish) instead[^31]. Custom levels can have them, as the level editor's tile `p`, a water block with a Piranha in it[^32]. ## Tips - A Piranha only chases a swimming player, so one crossing above the water isn't chased. - Several Piranhas each bite as the player's invincibility runs out, so a pool with a few of them costs a heart a second until he gets out. - The player can't stomp a Piranha while swimming; a thrown item or the Whip kills one. ## Trivia - The Piranha's code names an attacking state for other monsters, Caveman, Shopkeeper, [Hawkman](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/hawkman) and Yeti, as well as the player, and sets a bitten one's state to 2, which for a Caveman is charging[^33][^34]. - On a graveyard level, the Piranha's place is taken by the [Dead Fish](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/dead-fish), whose code is the Piranha's without its hunting of other monsters. A Dead Fish killed is added to the Piranha's row of the kills table the game writes to `stats.txt`[^35][^36]. ## FAQ ### How much damage does a Piranha do in Spelunky Classic? 1 heart per bite. Each bite also knocks the player back and makes him invincible for 30 steps (1 second), so several Piranhas take a heart a second between them. ### Do Piranhas attack the player out of the water in Spelunky Classic? No. A Piranha only goes for the player while he's swimming, within 90 pixels of it. One that leaves the water turns into a Fish Bone. ### How do you kill a Piranha in Spelunky Classic? Hit it once with anything. A Piranha has 1 hit point, so a Whip hit, a thrown item, a bullet or a Bomb kills it. A swimming player can't stomp it. ### Where do Piranhas live in Spelunky Classic? In the water of the Jungle, where level generation puts one in a water block with a 1 in 30 chance, including the lakes of flooded levels. ## See also - **Damaged by:** Whip, Machete, Stomping[^24], Throwing[^25], Shotgun[^26], Pistol[^26], Bomb[^27] - **Related:** [Megamouth](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/megamouth), [Dead Fish](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/dead-fish) - **Damages:** [Caveman](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/caveman), [Hawkman](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/hawkman), [Yeti](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/yeti) ## References [^1]: `objects/oPiranha/create.gml:16` [^2]: `objects/oEnemy/collision_oCharacter.gml:25` [^3]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:69` [^4]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:100` [^5]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:17-76` [^6]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:17-30` [^7]: `objects/oPiranha/create.gml:12-13` [^8]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:123-128` [^9]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:32-35` [^10]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:63-70` [^11]: `scripts/moveTo.gml:20-31` [^12]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:53-62` [^13]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:71-75` [^14]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:37-51` [^15]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:77-121` [^16]: `objects/oPiranha/alarm_0.gml:1` [^17]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:136-140` [^18]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:1` [^19]: `objects/oLevel/step.gml:64-77` [^20]: `objects/oEnemy/collision_oCharacter.gml:14-25` [^21]: `objects/oEnemy/collision_oCharacter.gml:55` [^22]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:3-13` [^23]: `objects/oEnemy/collision_oWhip.gml:1` [^24]: `objects/oEnemy/collision_oCharacter.gml:6-10` [^25]: `objects/oItem/step.gml:256-348` [^26]: `objects/oBullet/collision_oEnemy.gml:16` [^27]: `objects/oExplosion/collision_oEnemy.gml:14` [^28]: `objects/oEnemy/step.gml:63-128` [^29]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:6-11` [^30]: `objects/oTransition/alarm_0.gml:149-154` [^31]: `scripts/scrEntityGen.gml:326-336` [^32]: `scripts/scrCreateTileObj.gml:172-176` [^33]: `objects/oPiranha/create.gml:22-26` [^34]: `objects/oPiranha/step.gml:110` [^35]: `objects/oDeadFish/step.gml:10-15` [^36]: `scripts/scrWriteStats.gml:198` ### Source code - `objects/oPiranha/create.gml` - `objects/oPiranha/step.gml` - `objects/oPiranha/alarm_0.gml` - `objects/oEnemy/create.gml` - `objects/oEnemy/collision_oCharacter.gml` - `objects/oEnemy/collision_oWhip.gml` - `objects/oLevel/step.gml` - `scripts/scrEntityGen.gml`