Species sheet · The Edible River
Arapaima
The Amazon giant that surfaces to breathe.
- Salted and dried, then soaked and cooked like salt cod
- Thick steaks grilled over embers
- In moqueca, with coconut milk and dendê oil
- Scientific name
- Arapaima gigas
- In the water
- One of the largest freshwater fish, living in the lakes and quiet arms of the Amazon basin. It must rise to gulp air at the surface, with a snap you can hear from afar.
- Season & buying
- Fishing managed under community quotas in Brazil, in the dry season; increasingly farmed. Salted pirarucu is sold all year.
- Common length
- ~200 cm
- How to identify it
- Long, cylindrical body with a flattened head
Huge scales edged in red towards the tail
Dorsal and anal fins set far back, rounded tail
On the plate
White, firm, boneless flesh with a mild flavour often compared to cod.
Avoid: Overcooking a thick steak: the firm flesh turns dense; sear hard, then finish gently.
Its scales are so tough they shrug off piranhas and interest materials engineers; on the markets of Manaus they are sold as nail files.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
