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Giant pirarucu fish swimming in a flooded forest

Pirarucu

Pirarucus have teeth on their tongues and on the roof of their mouths. The prey of adults pirarucu is other fish, but the juveniles have a more diverse diet.

Scientific name: Arapaima gigas

Rank: Species

Common names:

Arapaima

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Distribution

The Pirarucu can be found in a number of locations including: Amazon Rainforest, South America. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.

Habitats

The following habitats are found across the Pirarucu distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.

Behaviours

Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.

Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web

Conservation Status

Data deficient

  1. EX - Extinct
  2. EW
  3. CR - Threatened
  4. EN - Threatened
  5. VU - Threatened
  6. NT
  7. LC - Least concern

Year assessed: 1996

Classified by: IUCN 2.3

About

The arapaima, pirarucu, or paiche (Arapaima gigas) is a South American tropical freshwater fish. It is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world.

Read more at Wikipedia

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Classification

  1. Life
  2. Animals
  3. Vertebrates
  4. Bony fish
  5. Ray-finned fishes
  6. Osteoglossiformes
  7. Osteoglossidae
  8. Arapaima
  9. Pirarucu

BBC News about Pirarucu

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