Abstract Piaractus orinoquensis, a new species of serrasalmid fish, is described from the Orinoco River basin. The new species differs from congeners by having a slenderer body, relatively smaller head and snout, more compressed mid‐body, fewer scales above and below the lateral line and diagnostic molecular characters in the coI mitochondrial gene region. We also provide a re‐description of Piaractus brachypomus, restricting its geographic distribution to the Amazon River basin. Both species are economically important in their respective basins and need to be independently managed as distinct species.