Osteoglossidae

Silver arowana

Osteoglossum bicirrhosum

Leaping clear of water to seize large beetles

• Gray
• Silver
• Yellow
• Tropical
• Regional distribution
• Freshwater fish
• South America
• Elongated
• Large
• Tropical fish

Celebrated in Amazonian lore as the water monkey for its gravity-defying leaps, the silver arowana is an iconic, ribbon-like freshwater osteoglossid flourishing across the vast river networks of northern South America. Its elongated, laterally compressed, knife-like body is clad in large, shimmering, pearlescent-silver scales that glisten with rainbow iridescence in sunlit waters. A massive oblique mouth points toward the surface, equipped at the chin with two prominent, forward-pointing sensory barbels, while prolonged dorsal and anal fins extend along the posterior body to flank a small, pointed caudal fin. Widespread throughout the Amazon, Rupununi, and Oyapock basins across Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and the Guianas, it navigates quiet river margins, oxbow lakes, and flooded igapó forests down to five meters depth. An agile surface predator, it leaps up to two meters clear of the water to snatch beetles, spiders, bats, and small birds from overhanging branches. Paternal mouthbrooders, males incubate large orange eggs and fry inside their oral cavity for nearly two months. Maximum recorded length attains ninety centimetres.

Sources: FishBase — Silver Arowana, Osteoglossum bicirrhosum