IMITATING THE NO NAME FISH

*Queue game of thrones joke*

This is an odd one that appeared on my phone when a PH friend and whatsapped me a photo of this odd fish he’d seen in Cameroon. He believed locals referred to them as the “no name fish”. Their common name is in fact the African or Nile Arowana.  These guys also wash up in Gabon all the time, but I understand they are abundant throughout Nigeria, Congo and Cameroon, with much speculation about their importance as a prey item to Tarpon, Snapper, Tigers and Nile perch.

I did see one flopping around on the surface in Gabon, and In a moment of inspired boredom, had a go at imitation.

From Wikipedia:

The African arowana or Nile arowana (Heterotis niloticus) is a species of bonytongue. Despite being called an “arowana”, the African arowana is more closely related to arapaimas, the only other members in the subfamily Arapaiminae, than the South American, Asian, and Australian arowanas in the subfamily Osteoglossinae (Arapaiminae is sometimes considered to be a separate family from Osteoglossidae). Compared to these, the African arowana has a more terminal mouth and is the only one that feeds extensively on plankton

This species is widespread throughout Africa, where it is native to all the watersheds in Sahelo-Sudanese region, Senegal, and Gambia, as well as parts of eastern Africa. This range includes the basins of the Corubal, Volta, Ouémé, Niger, Bénoué, and Nile Rivers, as well as those of Lake Chad and Lake Turkana. It has been successfully introduced to Côte d’Ivoire, the Cross River in Nigeria, the Sanaga and Nyong Rivers in Cameroon, and the Ogooué River in Gabon, as well as the lower and middle Congo River basin, including Ubangui and Kasaï Rivers. It has also been introduced in Madagascar. In some cases, introduction is reported to have had a negative impact on the local ecology.

From the Edcyclopedia (Ed Truter):

Of Sudanese origin, not indigenous to West Africa. Introduced into West Africa as an Aquaculture fish, that in the rainy system get washed out through the mouth of the river systems (like the Oguue) and swim into the ocean believing theyre still in fresh water.  In terms of their importance to Tarpon as a prey item his response was “well, the list of things Tarpon wont eat is very short”.

Body movement:

this video also contains some interesting information on their history in West Africa: