Written by Markus Buehler.
Photos courtesy of: Marcos Amend, Leandro Castello,Luis Claudio Marigo, Josae Marcio Ayres, Nathan Wardle.
The Arapaima (Arapaima gigas) is a big fish. Indeed a very big fish, especially for a freshwater species. But is the Arapaima, or Pirarucu as it is called in South America really the largest freshwater predator fish in the world, and how big can it actually grow? In popular and even scientific literature, as well as on the web, you can often read that this species can reach a length of 4.5m (14.7 feet) and a  weight of 200kg (440lb).
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