Strange Animals of the Amazon

The Amazon River is the largest river on earth and can be 25 miles wide during the rainy season. It drains most of the northern part of South America and 20 percent of the water flowing into ocean from rivers comes just from the Amazon. The river basin and its surrounding forests are home to one third of the animal species on the plant. Its strange inhabitants include freshwater sting rays and flatfish as well as dolphins and giant otters. New species are discovered every year in the Amazon basin.

    • The Amazon River dolphin or boto (Inia geoffrensis) lives only in the fresh water of the Amazon River. It is pinkish in color with a small dorsal fin and can turn its neck through 180 degrees. Adults can be 9 feet long and weigh 350 pounds. Amazon River dolphins feed on fish, crustaceans and river turtles.

    • The Arapaima (Arapaima gigas) is the largest fish in the Amazon River and can grow to 8 feet and weigh over 400 pounds. It is considered a living fossil because it has no close living relatives and has primitive features such as a lobe-like tail. Fossil evidence shows that it has lived in the Amazon region since the Jurassic era. It is able to breath air and looks after its young in its mouth. Arapaimas are threatened by over-fishing because they come to the surface to breath and are easily found by fishermen.

    • The candiru fish are a group of small parasitic fish that live in the Amazon River. Some, such as Vandellia cirrhosa, are able to lodge in the human urethra and live there, causing great pain to the host. Local people living by the river are very careful never to urinate directly into the river. There are a number of different candiru species but none get longer than six inches.

    • The electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) is not a true eel but a knife fish. It can grow up to 6 feet long and weigh 40 pounds and is capable of delivering an electric shock of 500 volts, strong enough to kill a grown man. Electric eels live in swamps and slow moving channels in the Amazon River and eat fish and other small animals.

    • The giant Amazon otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) is the largest otter in the world and can be 7 feet long and weigh 100 pounds. It lives in the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers. The species has been heavily hunted for its fur and is now endangered. There may only be about 5,000 giant otters left in the wild. They live in extended family groups and are very vocal, producing squeaks, growls and coos. Giant otters eat fish, especially catfish, as well as crustaceans.