Freshwater Fish Records

It is said that the largest freshwater fish in the world lives, of course, in the largest freshwater river in the world - the Amazon River in South America. Arapaima, also known locally as Pirarucu, Arapaima gigas are believed to be the largest, exclusively fresh water fish in the world. They have been found to reach a length of 15 ft/4m and can weigh up to 440lbs/200kg. And yes, for you smartypants out there, sturgeon are even larger than this, but they are not exclusively freshwater fish. Sturgeon spend most of their lives at sea, or in brackish water, and only swim into freshwater rivers to spawn. Arapaima are, like sturgeon, a very primitive form of fish covered in very large, bony-like scales. They are members of the Osteoglossidae, having a "bony tongue", that has a second set of teeth embedded into it. This allows it to chew up catfish that are protected by armoured plates.