Fish

Arowana

Osteoglossidae · also called arowanas, dragon fish, bonytongue

Endangered ↓ carnivore Rivers & wetlands Rainforest

An arowana is a metre-long ribbon of overlapping metal-bright scales that cruises just under the surface of a tropical river, watching upward. When a beetle or a small bird lands on an overhanging branch, the fish launches — up to two metres clear of the water — and takes it. In Asia, where it is called the dragon fish and believed to bring luck and wealth, a good one can cost more than a car.

Overview

Arowanas are surface-hunting freshwater fish in the family Osteoglossidae, the bonytongues — an ancient group whose close relatives live in South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Australia, a distribution left over from before the southern supercontinent broke apart. They are visual predators of insects, fish, frogs, and small birds and mammals, taken at or near the surface with an upturned mouth and a pair of chin barbels.

The water monkey, and the tongue

The silver arowana of the Amazon leaps up to 2 m to snatch prey off branches — hence the local name water monkey — and all arowanas jump powerfully. The “bonytongue” name comes from a toothed bony plate on the floor of the mouth that bites up against the palate, so the fish crushes prey with its tongue.

Fathers with a mouthful

Arowanas lay only a few dozen to a few hundred very large eggs, and the male mouthbroods them through hatching and beyond — sometimes two months — with the young sheltering in his mouth even after they can swim.

Status

The Asian arowana is Endangered, its wild blackwater-swamp populations reduced by aquarium-trade capture and habitat loss, and it is on CITES Appendix I — legal fish are farmed, certified, and microchipped, and can sell for over 100,000 USD. The South American silver and black arowanas are still fairly common but heavily harvested, with millions of young exported from the Amazon each year.

Arowana: common questions

Why is the Asian arowana so expensive?

It is a combination of cultural belief, rarity, and controlled supply. In many East and Southeast Asian communities the arowana, called the dragon fish for its large shimmering scales and whiskered face, is regarded as an auspicious animal that attracts prosperity and absorbs misfortune, so keeping a fine one is a display of wealth and status. Wild fish became scarce, and the species is now protected under CITES Appendix I, meaning the only legal fish are captive-bred at licensed farms and come with certification and an implanted microchip. Within that, colour, form, and lineage drive the price, with intensely red or gold individuals from prized bloodlines selling for tens of thousands of dollars and a small number of record fish reportedly changing hands for several hundred thousand.

Do arowanas really jump out of the water to catch birds?

Yes. Arowanas are surface hunters with eyes and an upturned mouth adapted for looking and feeding upward, and the silver arowana of the Amazon is known locally as the water monkey for its habit of launching itself, sometimes up to two metres, to snatch insects, spiders, and small birds and bats from branches and foliage overhanging the water. All arowana species are strong jumpers, which is a practical problem for aquarists, since an uncovered or poorly covered tank frequently results in a dead arowana on the floor. In the wild the leaping also helps them escape predators and move between shrinking pools in the dry season.

How do arowanas care for their young?

Through mouthbrooding by the male. Arowanas lay only a few dozen to a few hundred eggs, but each egg is very large, up to about 1.5 to 2 centimetres across, with a big yolk. The male takes the fertilised eggs into his mouth and holds them there while they develop and hatch, a period that can last several weeks to two months, during which he eats little or nothing. Even after the young can swim, they stay close to the father and rush back into his mouth when a threat appears, until they are large enough to be independent. This heavy investment in a few well-provisioned offspring is typical of the bonytongue group.

What is the difference between an arowana and an arapaima?

They are close relatives in the same family, the bonytongues, and both are large, air-breathing, surface-oriented predators of tropical fresh water. The differences are size and shape. The arowana is elongated and ribbon-like, up to about 90 centimetres in the silver arowana and a metre or so in the Asian species, and it hunts at the surface and leaps for prey. The arapaima is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world, reaching two to three metres and over 100 kilograms, with a heavy, torpedo-shaped body, and it is an obligate air-breather that must surface every 10 to 20 minutes to gulp air. Both occur in the Amazon, where the arapaima is a major food fish and the young arowana is a major aquarium export.

Sources & further reading

Written by HideShark Editorial Team · reviewed by HideShark Science Desk. Published September 10, 2026. Last updated September 10, 2026.

Quick facts

Scientific name: Osteoglossidae
Diet: A visual surface and mid-water predator taking insects, spiders, other fish, frogs, crustaceans, small snakes, and small birds and mammals, hunted at or just below the surface where the upturned mouth and the two sensory barbels on the chin help it detect struggling prey
The water monkey: The silver arowana of the Amazon leaps up to about 2 m clear of the water to grab beetles, spiders, and small birds and bats resting on branches above the river, a habit that has earned it the local name water monkey, and all arowanas are powerful jumpers
Bonytongue: Arowanas belong to an ancient group called the bonytongues, named for a toothed, bony plate on the floor of the mouth that bites up against teeth on the roof of the mouth, so the fish crushes prey with its tongue and palate rather than its jaws
Mouthbrooding fathers: After the female lays a small number of very large eggs, the male scoops them into his mouth and holds them there through hatching and early development, sometimes for two months, carrying up to a few hundred young that shelter in his mouth and dart back in when threatened even after they can swim
A living Gondwanan map: Closely related arowana species live in South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, and northern Australia, a distribution best explained by the group already existing before the southern supercontinent broke apart, so the family is a textbook example of continents carrying their fish with them
The most expensive aquarium fish: The Asian arowana, especially the red and gold colour forms, is a status symbol and feng shui charm believed to bring wealth and ward off bad luck, and top specimens have changed hands for well over 100,000 US dollars, with fish microchipped, certified, and sometimes given cosmetic surgery
Protected by international treaty: The Asian arowana is listed on Appendix I of CITES, the strictest category, so wild-caught fish cannot be traded internationally, and the legal trade is supplied entirely by licensed captive-breeding farms, mainly in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, whose fish carry documentation and an implanted microchip
Range: The tropical fresh waters of four continents, with the silver and black arowanas in the Amazon and Orinoco basins and the Guianas, the African arowana across the rivers and swamps of western and central Africa, the Asian arowana in the blackwater rivers, swamps, and flooded forests of Southeast Asia, and two saratoga species in the rivers and billabongs of northern Australia and southern New Guinea, all favouring slow, still, or gently flowing water with overhanging vegetation.
Conservation status: Endangered ↓ ≈ The situation varies sharply by species. The Asian arowana, Scleropages formosus, is assessed as Endangered, with wild populations reduced and fragmented by decades of capture for the aquarium trade and by the loss of the blackwater swamp forests it lives in, even as farmed fish are produced in large numbers. The silver and black arowanas of South America remain fairly common but are heavily harvested, with millions of young silver arowanas exported from the Amazon each year for the aquarium trade, and the African and Australian species are of less concern. Habitat loss to logging, drainage, and dams affects all of them in the wild