Overview
The Arawana belongs to a small family of ancient fishes. The distinctive arawana is an elongate and compressed fish with huge silvery scales and is the only scale-fish in Brazil with two sensitive barbels on the lower jaw of its upturned mouth. Another of the “bonytongues”. The name bonytongues is derived from a toothed bone on the floor of the mouth, the tongue, equipped with teeth that bite against teeth on the roof of the mouth. The Arowana is a facultative air breather and can obtain oxygen from air by sucking it into its swim bladder, which is lined with capillaries like lung tissue.
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Actinopterygii
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Osteoglossidae
- Genus
- Osteoglossum
- Species
- bicirrhosum
Habitat
It is confined to fresh waters in Africa, South America, and southeastern Asia to Australia. It inhabits freshwater in northern South America throughout the Amazon river system, where it lives in marginal lagoons and small tributaries of large rivers during the dry season and in the flooded forests (idapó) during the wet season.
Diet
They tend to feed on fish at the surface. The superior position of the mouth allows it to capture its prey while swimming from below. The Arowana has also been reported to jump out of the water to feed on large insects (Coleoptera; Ref. 27548).
Behavior
They are carnivorous, often being specialized surface feeders. They are excellent jumpers; having been seen leaping more than 6 ft (almost 2 m) from the water surface to pick off insects and birds from overhanging branches in South America, hence the nickname water monkeys.
Fishing
They can found in the amzazon and are primarily used used as aquarium fish where they can easily outgrow small aquarium tanks in a short 8-9 months. Also, the Arowana has become known to be one of the most expensive pet fishes to purchase on the market.
Conservation Status
Listed as Not Evaluated by IUCN.