- "I caught an arapaima! And it looks like it's in its prime-a!"
The Arapaima, Arapaima gigas, is a rare fish found in rivers between 4pm and 9am, between the months of July and September. It sells for 10,000 Bells, being tied for second highest freshwater price with the Arowana, second only to the Dorado and Stringfish.
Museum[]
An information board in the aquarium will provide information about this fish. It is big!
"Arapaima, at over two yards long, are one of the largest freshwater-fish breeds in the world. They've been around for over 100 million years, making them rather ancient fish as well. They breathe through gills but also with an air bladder used by poking their mouths above water. They have hard, course tongues that are used to break down the smaller fish they eat."
In real life[]
The Arapaima, or Pirarucu, or Paiche is a South American tropical freshwater fish. It is a living fossil and one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world. Arapaima can reach lengths of more than 2 m (6.6 ft), in some exceptional cases even more than 2.5 m (8.2 ft) and over 100 kg (220 lbs).
The diet of the Arapaima consists of fish, crustaceans, even small land animals that walk near the shore. The fish is an air-breather, using its labyrinth organ, which is rich in blood vessels and opens into the fish’s mouth, an advantage in oxygen-deprived water that is often found in the Amazon River.
Commercial fishing of the Arapaima has been banned by the Brazilian government due to its commercial extinction. Fishing is allowed only in certain remote areas of the Amazon basin, and must be catch-and-release, or harvesting by native peoples for consumption.
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