OSTEICHTHYES: ORDER: OSTEOGLOSSIDAE: Sclerophages

Sclerophages formosus Author and date

Red or Asiatic Arowana

Photos & text by Dr. R. G. Sprackland

Range: Mangrove waters of eastern Asia.

Diagnosis: A large (to 1m/ 40") bony-tongued fish with a pair of small but distinct chin barbels, a far posterior dorsal fin, and huge body scales (each about equal to the eye in diameter.

Description:

Natural History: Arowanas are slow moving predators that feed largely on other, smaller fishes. 

Reproduction: Mouthbrooders. Females lay eggs which are taken up by the male until the fry hatch.

Taxonomy & Relationships: There are arowana species in Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America, the continents that once formed Gondwanaland. Their present distribution, therefore, is part of the zoogeographic evidence in support of the theory of plate tectonics ("continental drift").

Variation:

Additional Comments: An endangered species strictly protected by law and CITES Appendix I.

Type Specimen:

Literature: