Myth or fact on arowana origin

[blueice24]

got info that arowana was native to the philippines

scleropogus formosus???

http://fish.mongabay.com/data/Philippines.htm


myth or fact?

 

[kriztu]

i think fact. disappeared here though, read it in some other sites too

 

[zennzzo]

i think fact. disappeared here though, read it in some other sites too

Overfished? or Land use issues? do you know?

 

[meiling]

i think fact. disappeared here though, read it in some other sites too

so kritzu killed them all off?

 

[Oddball]

Not surprising. There used to be 2 Osteoglossid species in the US. There's still one species of Osteoglossidae in Canada.

 

[deangelo]

Its true, but too bad we never saw our native arowana species...dang civilization!

 

[kriztu]

so kritzu killed them all off?

ofcourse not Mei ....i think it was pushed to extinction slightly after the asian arowana aquarium trade rush, though who knows in some remote river systems they might still exist. it was overfished as a food fish even if its flesh value was just moderate, the aquarium rush on asian arowanas was the last blow. and to start with, the Philippine asian aro (golden&green) was not that huge compared to malaysia and indonesia. i have a map of southeast asia here that shows territories where asian aros exist (endemic)....and used to exist....

 

[sandtiger]

Not surprising. There used to be 2 Osteoglossid species in the US. There's still one species of Osteoglossidae in Canada.

Canada? A native osteoglossid? Are you sure?

 

[Oddball]

The Mooneye. Hiodon spp. is the only extant North American member of the order Osteoglossiformes which also includes Pantodon, Schleropages, Osteoglossum, and Heterotis.

 

[Oddball]

The US Osteoglossiformes died out near the end of the Eocene. They were Phareodus testis and Phareodus encaustus.