Osteoglossidae

Australian pearl arowana

Scleropages jardinii

Guarding newly hatched young around her mouth for weeks

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

Gleaming in bronze armor highlighted by rows of luminous pink pearls, the Australian pearl arowana (or northern saratoga) is an ancient, surface-dwelling osteoglossid native to the tropical waterways of northern Australia and New Guinea. Its elongated, knife-shaped frame displays an olive-brown to bronze back, while each massive mosaic scale on the flanks is stamped with two or three crescent-shaped orange-pink or golden spots that produce a pearlescent sheen. An oblique upturned mouth houses a pair of sensitive fleshy barbels on the chin, and its dorsal and anal fins are set far back near the rounded caudal fin to deliver explosive thrust. Distributed across river basins draining into the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Northern Territory, northern Queensland, and southern New Guinea, it patrols slow-flowing rivers, billabongs, and lily-covered lagoons. An opportunistic surface predator, it leaps out of the water to dislodge beetles, grasshoppers, frogs, and small fishes. Maternal mouthbrooders, females incubate thirty to one hundred and thirty large eggs inside their oral cavity for over a month until the yolk sacs are absorbed. Maximum recorded total length attains one hundred centimetres.

Sources: Australian Museum — Northern Saratoga, Scleropages jardinii