Pirarucu Facts and Pirarucu Pictures

Pinki — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 07:08:01 +0000

Pirarucu are fresh-water fish found in the Amazon and other rivers of northern South America. They are among the largest freshwater fish in the world. A big pirarucu may weigh two hundred pounds and be seven feet long. Their name comes from the Portuguese “pira” meaning fish, and “rucu” meaning red. Actually their large scales are grey and are only bordered with red. Their scientific name is Arapaima gigas.

Pirarucu are an important food fish for the people of South America. Indian tribes have caught them for centuries, shooting them with a bow and arrow, or else harpooning them. Then they preserve the fish by drying the flesh in the sun so that it can be used for food at a later date. Not only human fishermen go after the pirarucu—the powerful jaguar may be successful in catching one of these big fish. Like many fish living in fresh water in which there is a great deal of decaying vegetation, the pirarucu come to the surface to breathe air. They would die if they were forced to remain under water for any length of time. When they expel the air they make a kind of burping sound that can be heard for almost a mile.

The pirarucu are among the rare fishes that not only make a kind of nest but also take care of their eggs and the babies which hatch from them. The pirarucu and other fresh-water fish found in northern South America are almost all totally unlike those found in North America. Strangely enough, these South American fish seem to be related to fish found in Africa, and even to those of northern Australia.

Pirarucu Pictures

Silver Hatchet Fish

Pinki — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:39:34 +0000

It is thought that some fishes of the depths make frequent excursions to the surface of the water at night, going down again at daybreak to the depths, which they light up feebly with their light-producing organs, or photophores. And so fishermen will sometimes find, in a squirming mass of silvery sardines, mackerel or other edible fish, some strange creature. They will throw it back or, if they are at the dock, give it to the waiting cats, so it is never identified.

Sometimes, however, fishermen get the idea of bringing the odd fish they have chanced upon to marine biological institutes. This was what happened with a little abyssal fish found—and identified for the first time—some thirty years ago off the coast of Sicily. This tiny animal, hardly two inches long, is very broad in front and very narrow in back. On the whole it looks like a hatchet, with a sort of small handle. Because of its brilliant silvery color, it was given the Latin name of Argyropelecus, or silver hatchet. As in the case with most abyssal fishes, its mouth is enormous compared with its teeth. Its huge telescopic eyes look upwards.

Its anatomical features meet the requirements of the very special conditions of the fishes’ environment: the tremendous pressure of the water, the darkness, the problems of its search for food, the cold temperature of the water. The silver hatchet has been caught in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea. It swims at various depths, from about ten thousand feet to about three hundred feet, probably in pursuit of its prey. It would not come to the surface unless caught in ascending currents that it could not resist. There near the surface await the fishermen’s nets, from which museums of natural history sometimes can enrich their collections with a silver hatchet.

Silver Hatchet Fish Pictures

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Pirarucu Facts and Pirarucu Pictures

Silver Hatchet Fish