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Animal profile

Silver Arowana

Osteoglossum bicirrhosum

ActinopterygiiBlackwater and whitewater floodplains, flooded forest and slow river marginsLeast Concern

Field profile

The silver arowana is a long, ribbon-bodied surface hunter with an upturned mouth and a pair of chin barbels. It patrols just beneath the surface of flooded forest, watching upward. Adults commonly reach around one metre.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2023-08-20

Silver Arowana

The arowana leaps to hunt above the waterline

Silver arowanas take prey out of the air. Watching upward from just under the surface, they launch clear of the water to seize insects, spiders and occasionally small birds resting on branches over flooded forest, a habit that earned them the name water monkey.

Read with evidence →

Silver Arowana | Daily Animal Facts