Worlds largest freshwater fish

[TLkmDN]

So are we settled on arapaima gigas as the worlds largest non migratory freshwater fish?

yeh but wats the criteria??? weight? height? length?
i think it shud be weight therefore freshwater stingray WINS

 

[synodontisjack]

freshwater stingrays over 1000lbs don't exist! The arapaima wins because they are the longest.

 

[Zoodiver]

We should say average adult size (weight and length) of fish that are 100% freshwater. We can rule out rare freaks of size that way, as well as fish that migrate into bracksish and salt water.

Which leaves us with the Arapaima gigas.

 

[TLkmDN]

We should say average adult size (weight and length) of fish that are 100% freshwater. We can rule out rare freaks of size that way, as well as fish that migrate into bracksish and salt water.

Which leaves us with the Arapaima gigas.

hey zoodiver congrats on being a mod...i only just realised....have u found a new place to work?

 

[Toby_H]

Are we completely ruling out all Sturgeon?

I understand some or even most species dwell in brackish water and on rare occasions may venture out to sea for a very short time…

But I grew up in Detroit, well away from any sea water, and I’ve seen some pretty darn huge Sturgeon pulled out of the lakes up there. Also years ago there was a plaque (probably still there) near the river’s edge (Detroit River) at heart Plaza that had a sketch of a massive Sturgeon being pulled out by a team of horses with a caption of this being the place where the largest fish to someone’s standard was caught (I don’t remember all the details, I moved away from Detroit years ago).

I don’t know too much about these massive cold water fish but I would suspect that there are species that top 10’ whose range is far enough inland to consider them freshwater only…

 

[Zoodiver]

I think that any pure freshwater sturgeon that gets over 12 feet or so also have members of the species in saltwater.

 

[ChrisGray]

by weight, a catfish for sure but by length a giga

 

[Opiate]

i'd have to say giga!!

 

[cichlaguapote]

a fw ray would have to be huge to top 1000lb as they are not deep bodied and i doubt any river system could support something that big, the sturgeon is migratory

I believe that's the mekong stingray.. it is a river large enough to support such a fish.. there is also a giant S.A. ray I believe.. bigger than tiger ray...

But I think pure FW talking biggest length 'pima wins..

 

[cichlaguapote]

We aren't talking loaches.... we're talking REAL fish.

Ohhh.. friendly burn...