Sceleropages is a genus of freshwater fishes found in Asia and Australia. Six species are currently recognized. All are carnivorous and have great jumping ability. Most are endangered in the wild to some degree. Scleropages species are highly valued as aquarium fish, particularly by those from Asian cultures.

Before 2003, three species were recognized from this genus (S. formosus, S. jardinii, and S. leichardti). In that year, a study was published which determined several naturally-occurring color varieties of S. formosus, the Asian arowana, actually comprised four separate species, bringing the species count for the genus to six.

The ancestor of the Australian arowanas, S. jardinii and S. leichardti, diverged from the ancestor of the Asian arowanas about 140 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period. The morphological similarity of all six species shows that little evolutionary change has taken place recently for these ancient fish.

Species

Species are listed with their most prominent common names.

• Scleropages aureus Pouyaud, Sudarto and Teugels, 2003 — gold arowana, red-tailed golden arowana
• Scleropages formosus (Müller and Schlegel, 1844) — green arowana, Asian bonytongue, Malayan arowana
• Scleropages jardinii (Saville-Kent, 1892) — Gulf saratoga, Australian arowana, Australian bonytongue, northern barramundi
• Scleropages legendrei Pouyaud, Sudarto and Teugels, 2003: red arowana, super red arowana, blood red arowana, chili arowana
• Scleropages leichardti Günther, 1864 — saratoga, Australian arowana, Dawson River salmon, spotted saratoga, spotted barramundi, spotted arowana
• Scleropages macrocephalus Pouyaud, Sudarto and Teugels, 2003: silver Asian arowana, yellow-tailed silver arowana, gray-tailed silver arowana

References