Knowing Big Freshwater Fish, Arapaima Gigas

Knowing Big Freshwater Fish, Arapaima Gigas - Freshwater Fish | Also referred to as paiche as well as pirarucu, the Arapaima Gigas is definitely an air-breathing fish that plies the rain forest rivers of South America's Amazon Basin and nearby lakes and swamps as one of big freshwater fishes. Perhaps one of the world's big freshwater fish, these giants fish, Arapaima Gigas can reach it's weight to 440 pounds (200 kilograms ) and 9 feet (2.75 meters) long . There is a wide, scaly, gray body and also a tapered head as it's characteristic of big freshwater fish.

Though arapaimas can stay underwater for 10 to twenty minutes, they are likely to get nearby the water's surface, this is because they emerge so often to breathe and having a distinctive coughing noise also thats the teritory they hunt. As freshwater fish They survive mainly on fish but have been shown to occasionally grab birds near the water's surface.

The arapaima's proximity towards the water's surface cause it to be liable to human predators, who are able to easily target all of them with harpoons. Some indigenous peoples make the arapaima's meat and tongue as their consumsion and collect its large scales, that fashioned into jewelry along with other items. So, Arapaima Gigas is one of freshwater fish are becoming scarce.

The Amazon's seasonal floods became section of the arapaima's reproductive cycle. During low-water months (February to April ),  as freshwater fish arapaimas construct bottom nests for the females to lay the eggs. As rising water levels impart with flood conditions the young commence to hatch, this make them to flourish. An unusual reproductive role  plays by the adult males by incubating lots and lots of eggs with their mouths,  moving them when necessary as an act of guarding them aggressively.

Although this giant freshwater fish's habitat is relatively unmolested, overfishing has turned into a serious problem, and a few South American authorities have attempted to enact protections.

Reference : http://environment.nationalgeographic.com