Tambaqui

Appearance

The tambaqui is the heaviest characin in the Americas and the second heaviest scaled freshwater fish in South America . It can reach up to 1.1 m in total length and 44 kg in weight, but a more typical size is 0.7 m . The largest caught by rod-and-reel and recognized by IGFA weighed 32.4 kg . After the flood season, around 10% of a tambaqui's weight is the visceral fat reserves and at least another 5% is fat found in the head and muscles.

It is similar in shape to the piranha and juveniles are sometimes confused with the carnivorous fish; the tambaqui is tall and laterally compressed with large eyes and a slightly arched back. Unlike more predatory species, the teeth of the tambaqui are molar-like, an adaption for crushing plant seeds and nuts. The lower half of its body is typically mainly blackish. The remaining is mainly gray, yellowish or olive, but the exact hue varies considerably and depends in part on habitat with individuals in blackwater being much darker than individuals from whitewater. The pelvic, anal and small pectoral fins are black. The tambaqui resembles the pirapitinga , but the latter species has a more rounded head profile and a smaller adipose fin that lacks rays, as well as differences in teeth and operculum.

Hybrids between the tambaqui and the similar ''Piaractus'' have been produced in aquaculture, and are occasionally seen in the wild. The hybrid offspring can be difficult to identify by appearance alone.

Distribution

The tambaqui is native to freshwater habitats in the Amazon and Orinoco basins of tropical South America. In nutrient-rich whitewater rivers such as the Madeira, Juruá, Putumayo and Purus it ranges throughout, all the way up to their headwaters. In nutrient-poor blackwater rivers such as the Rio Negro and clearwater rivers such as several rightbank tributaries of the Madeira it generally only occurs in the lower c. 300 km and is rare beyond the lowermost c. 150 km . It is widely kept in aquaculture outside its native range in South America. Miocene fossils are known from the Magdalena River, but modern occurrence in this river is due to introductions by humans.

Habitat

This species is mostly solitary, but it migrates in large schools. During the non-breeding season, adults stay in flooded forests of white , clear and blackwater rivers. They stay there for four to seven months during the flood season, but as the water level drops they move into the main river channels or to a lesser extent floodplain lakes. At the start of the next flood season, large schools move into whitewater rivers where they spawn between November and February. The exact spawning location in the whitewater rivers is not entirely certain, but apparently along woody shores or grassy levees. The schools then break up as the adults return to the flooded forest of white, clear and blackwater rivers, and the annual pattern is repeated. Larvae are found in whitewater rivers, including the Amazon River itself. Juveniles stay near macrophytes in floodplains and flooded forests year-round, only switching to the adult migration pattern when reaching sexual maturity. Maturity is reached at a length of about 60 cm .

The species regularly reaches an age of 40 years and may reach up to 65.

Reproduction

This species is mostly solitary, but it migrates in large schools. During the non-breeding season, adults stay in flooded forests of white , clear and blackwater rivers. They stay there for four to seven months during the flood season, but as the water level drops they move into the main river channels or to a lesser extent floodplain lakes. At the start of the next flood season, large schools move into whitewater rivers where they spawn between November and February. The exact spawning location in the whitewater rivers is not entirely certain, but apparently along woody shores or grassy levees. The schools then break up as the adults return to the flooded forest of white, clear and blackwater rivers, and the annual pattern is repeated. Larvae are found in whitewater rivers, including the Amazon River itself. Juveniles stay near macrophytes in floodplains and flooded forests year-round, only switching to the adult migration pattern when reaching sexual maturity. Maturity is reached at a length of about 60 cm .

The species regularly reaches an age of 40 years and may reach up to 65.

Food

Tambaqui consume fruits and seeds, especially from woody angiosperms and herbaceous species. Depending on the quantity and food quality of these foods, it causes the fish to decide on their location of their habitat. In one study during the high-water season, 78—98 percent of the diet consisted of fruits. Another study of the stomach content of 138 specimens during the high-water season found that 44% of the weight was fruits and seeds, 30% was zooplankton and 22% was wild rice. Among 125 specimens during the low-water season, a higher percentage had empty stomachs and about 70% of the total stomach content weight was zooplankton. In addition to seeds, fruits, wild rice and zooplankton, smaller levels of insects, snails, shrimps, small fish, filamentous algae and decaying plants are consumed.

Migration

This species is mostly solitary, but it migrates in large schools. During the non-breeding season, adults stay in flooded forests of white , clear and blackwater rivers. They stay there for four to seven months during the flood season, but as the water level drops they move into the main river channels or to a lesser extent floodplain lakes. At the start of the next flood season, large schools move into whitewater rivers where they spawn between November and February. The exact spawning location in the whitewater rivers is not entirely certain, but apparently along woody shores or grassy levees. The schools then break up as the adults return to the flooded forest of white, clear and blackwater rivers, and the annual pattern is repeated. Larvae are found in whitewater rivers, including the Amazon River itself. Juveniles stay near macrophytes in floodplains and flooded forests year-round, only switching to the adult migration pattern when reaching sexual maturity. Maturity is reached at a length of about 60 cm .

The species regularly reaches an age of 40 years and may reach up to 65.