A monster arapaima (Pirarucu) caught in deep Amazon. IGFA world record for the fish of 339 pound (154 kg) caught in Amazonia, Brasil by angler Jakub Vagner. www.igfa.org
A nice size arapaima of 200 pound / 90 kg caught on Tocantins river in Barsil while bottom fishing.
A 154 pound fish caught on fly by fishing guide Jean Francois Helias in Thailand.
Jean Francois Helias with a superb arapaima cught with fly rod in Thailand www.anglingthailand.com
The arapaima, pirarucu, or paiche (Arapaima gigas) is a South American tropical freshwater fish. It is a living fossil and one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world. 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. The Arapaima is a predatory fish that eats fish, birds and any other animal that it can catch. The major part of its diet consists of fish, but since it is a large opportunistic hunter it will happily gulp down other animals as well. Arapaimas prefer to hunt close to the surface since they need to breathe oxygen from the air. This does however not prevent the Arapaima from occasionally diving very far down. The fact that this fish needs to breathe air from the atmosphere every 10-20 minutes must of course be taken into consideration if you intend to keep an Arapaima in captivity. The aquarium must be arranged in a way that makes access to fresh air possible.
| DISTRIBUTION: | South America |
| MAX SIZE: | 450 lb / 200 kg |
| MAX LENGTH: | 13.5 feet / 4.5 metre |