Asian Bonytongue, Arowana News

Asian Bonytongue:
Osteoglossum formosum
AKA: Golden Arowana, Asian Arowana, Dragon Fish

Updated 6/4/11




Habitat Range Asia: Southern Myanmar to Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, eastern Thailand to Cardamon Range. International trade banned.

Asian Bonytongue Osteoglossum formosum live in tannin stained black (often low light) forest covered streams including peat adjacent areas. Take around three months for free swimming fries. Arowanas are mouth brooders and young are about 6 cm in length at birth. The young fish feed on insects at the water surface, and adults arowanas consume fish and small vertebrates.

Asian Bonytongue are valued as an aquarium fish, especially among Asianaas. They are considered a lucky fish because of their resemblance to the Chinese mythical dragon.




The Asian Bonytongue has been in the news of late in North Carolina

In July of 2009:
A Charlotte woman has been accused of smuggling live endangered fish from Vietnam, packed inside bottles of fish sauce. Bich Phuong Truong Phan was charged with violating the Endangered Species Act by attempting to import two Asian bonytongue fish without a permit.

Truong Phan was traveling from Vietnam to Charlotte on July18 when her luggage and two cardboard boxes were opened and inspected at the Atlanta Jackson Hartsfield International Airport. Inside a cooler in one of the boxes inspectors found two clear plastic bottles appearing to contain an edible mixture of fermented fish in fish sauce or paste, according to an affidavit by an agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Inspectors poured out the mixture and found two black plastic bags. Inside each bag was a live fish, according to the court document.

In July of 2009
QI GUI NIE of Charlotte, North Carolina, pleaded guilty today before United States District Court Judge Willis B. Hunt, Jr., to charges of smuggling endangered and prohibited wildlife Asian Bonytongue fish into the United States through the port of Atlanta.

United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said, “Federal laws and international conventions are important tools to prevent the over-exploitation of endangered and protected wildlife. Fish and Wildlife inspectors are to be commended for their vigilance here in identifying the illegal smuggling of protected species.”

James Gale, Special Agent in Charge, Southeast Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, said: “Whenever there is a demand for endangered and protected wildlife, a supply is created to meet the demand. Smuggling endangered and protected wildlife species into the United States and offering those species for sale on the black market is a persistent problem that our agents and wildlife inspectors encounter on a regular basis. This case is a prime example of how an individual attempted to smuggle endangered and protected wildlife for his personal gain. Our agents and wildlife inspectors will continue to concentrate on and aggressively pursue individuals and organizations who promote the illegal trade of protected species of wildlife.”


References

Fishbase.org; Asian bonytongue

http://www.earthsendangered.com/profile.asp?view=c&ID=3&sp=41

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*Aquarium Chemistry; an accurate aquatic chemistry article that goes beyond the myths of aquarium keeping into what is truly essential for fish such as Arowana.

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