Arapaima

• fisiologíaIt is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world and must surface regularly to breathe air through a kind of primitive lung.
• It is an obligate air breather: it comes to the surface to gulp air with a distinctive sound that carries a long way and gives its position away to fishermen.
• It builds a nest about 15 cm deep and 50 cm across on sandy bottoms, spawns in April and May and guards the eggs and the young.
• The figure of 4.5 m that is often quoted comes from a single second-hand report from the first half of the nineteenth century.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bony fish)

Habitat and environment

Floodplains, lakes and large tributaries of the Amazon basin; it moves onto the flooded plain with the rising water and returns to the lakes at low water

Sexual maturity

At around 4 or 5 years old and about 150 cm; length at first maturity 149.5 cm (range 145-154 cm)

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Arapaima gigas

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.