Fish Arapayma

Fish Arapayma - suborder kosteyazychnyh, one of the major fish species inhabit fresh water, some specimens weighing over 200 kg and up to three meters in length. This is one of the commercial fish species in South America, often goes fishing nets, so the giant arapaym not found in the wild waters. And in some areas and completely disabled her capture. It feeds mainly on fish, small animals and birds. Has a unique mechanism of adaptation - can breathe naturally and through the tissue, similar to the lung tissue that lines the bladder and throat. This breathing has evolved from the fact that the waters of the Amazon is little oxygen. That's because fish arapaymy tolerate drought, picking up the air, buried in sand, mud bog, waiting for the tide. Breathing arapaymy very common when a large arapayma coming to the surface, appears at first swirl, and then out of the water there is fish head with open mouth. With characteristic clicking sounds deflates, swallows fresh air and disappears into the depths. Adult fish occur every 15 minutes on the water surface, the young more often.
 

Giant arapayma - little-the world's largest fish. Early descriptions are taken from the stories of travel and some exaggerated. The authors, who also specifically investigated this kind of fish, according to some very interesting data on the behavior and biology of fishes arapayma. Strange, then, that arapaymu caught without limitation in the Brazilian and Peruvian units in the ducts of the Amazon. But no one tried to study its behavior and the preservation of this species, until it was much reduced in number.
 

Giant fish lived in a pond in Brazil with the hope that they take root. There are some areas of rivers and lakes in eastern Peru, where the reserve funds are catching arapaymy is only with the permission of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Adults have arapaymy colorful painting: on the back of the color changes from blue-black to metallic green, tail and sides of the silver-gray, the belly - from cream to greenish-white. Huge flakes of shimmer in shades of red.
Young fish feed on shrimp and has grown to become another food, mainly fish, crustaceans bottom.
 

The sources of past data on the size arapaymy greatly exaggerated, for example, in describing R.Shom-Burke in his book "Fishes of British Guiana," there is evidence that arapayma reaches a length of 14 feet (ft - 0.305 m) and weight about 400 pounds (lb - 0, 454 kg). And this information is not obtained at first hand and also not confirmed. In fact, this species reaches the length of 7 feet and weighs about 300 pounds. Habitat arapaymy probably depends on the plant environment than from the water. For this type of fish needed rugged coast with a fairly wide band of plants floating near the shore, forming floating meadows. Therefore arapayma lives primarily in the backwaters, where in addition to the floating meadows and floating plants (mimosas and ferns, hyacinth, etc.). Due to its color is invisible giant fish among plants.
 

The most favorable habitat for arapaym in South America is the Rio Park. Here the fish reaches maturity in 5 years and reach about 6 feet long and weigh up to 100 pounds. Presumably the adult fish arapaymy breed twice a year.