The arowana's body plan reads as one long swimming muscle. Its dorsal and anal fins run far back toward the tail, giving continuous thrust, and the mouth is hinged steeply upward so the gape opens toward the surface. The eyes sit high on the head.
Leaps of a metre or more above the water have been reported for large individuals hunting over flooded forest in the wet season, when insects, spiders and small vertebrates are concentrated on overhanging vegetation rather than on ground now underwater. The species is also a mouthbrooder: the male carries the large yolked eggs and then the fry in his mouth, releasing them to feed and taking them back when disturbed.
Popular accounts often round the leap up to two metres or more. Careful measurements of maximum jump height in the wild are scarce, and much of what circulates comes from anecdote rather than recorded observation.