Overfishing and habit loss have led to the Mekong Giant Catfish being critically endangered. You may also like: 12 Examples of Cephalopods (Pictures) While their enormous size is certainly intimidating, they’re gentle giants with a diet consisting exclusively of microscopic plankton. They live mainly in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Mekong river and it’s tributaries. These enormous fish are the largest purely freshwater fish in the world (Sturgeon are larger, but they inhabit both fresh and saltwater).
Largest on record: 8 feet, 10 inches | 646 pounds. Mekong Giant Catfish image: Lynn Chan | Flickr | CC BY 2.0 Fortunately, there are now farming operations raising arapaima for food so that the wild population doesn’t need to be targeted.Ĥ. Arapaima have been over fished in some areas, as they’re considered a delicacy. Their habit of leaping forcefully out of the water makes them exciting to watch, too.Īrapaima are able to breathe air when the oxygen levels in the water drop too low, which enables them to thrive in environments that would kill many other fish. It’s easy to understand why: these fish are beautiful, sleek, and powerful. These famous Amazonian fish have made an appearance in virtually every big fish documentary of the past twenty years. Largest on record: 10 feet, 1 inch | 440 pounds. Arapaima image: Jeff Kubina | Flickr | CC BY-SA 2.0 These fears were entirely unfounded, because Alligator Gar have never attacked humans and they simply don’t eat enough to threaten populations of the native fish that evolved alongside them.ģ. 10 ft Alligator Gar in Mississippi in 1910 | original source unknown | David Foster | Flickr | CC 2.0 BY-NDĪlligator Gar were once hunted nearly to extinction because people were afraid of them and believed that they would wipe populations of popular game fish. They got their name because, with their broad, tooth-filled jaws and long armored bodies they do bear a strong resemblance to alligators. These ancient fish have been around for millions of years, changing very little over that time. Largest on record: 8 feet, 5 inches long | 327 poundsĪlligator Gar are huge, mean-looking fish native to the southern U.S. Alligator Gar image: vhines200 | Flickr | CC BY-ND 2.0 These fish are voracious predators, but they’re harmless to humans as they don’t have any teeth.Ģ. Sturgeon can live in both fresh and salt water, although they only spawn in freshwater. It lives primarily in the basins around the Caspian and Black Sea. Beluga are famous for their roe (eggs), sold as beluga caviar, for which they’ve been hunted nearly to extinction. In fact, some consider it the largest bony fish by weight. The beluga sturgeon isn’t just the largest freshwater fish in the world, it’s the third largest of all the bony fish. Largest on record: 23 feet, 7 inches long | 3,463 pounds. 
Beluga Sturgeon image: Geoff Parsons | Flickr | CC BY-SA 12 of the largest species of freshwater fish 1. In this article we’ll look at 12 of the largest freshwater fish in the world. In fact, some of the largest freshwater fish are counted among the biggest fish anywhere, including saltwater species.
#List of freshwater fish full
The world is full of huge freshwater fish, and some of them are just as big as anything swimming out in the ocean. While it’s true that freshwater fish tend to be smaller, rivers and lakes can still harbor giants. When we think of giant fish, most often we think of saltwater species.
0 kommentar(er)
