A live arapaima gigas in an aquarium in Beijing.
Yesterday, citizens in Bogor were shocked to find an enormous dead fish, as large as a full-grown man, washed up on the banks of the Ciliwung River under the Jalan Baru Bridge in North Bogor.
The fish was identified as an araipama gigas, native to the Amazon rainforests.
No, the fish didn’t swim half the world to end up in the Ciliwung. It was later revealed that the fish lived in an aquarium in Sumber Karya Indah (SKI) tourism attraction in Tajur, Bogor, and had only recently died.
“Yesterday (Saturday), a fish died at around 7:30AM,” said SKI informations officer M Sholeh, as quoted by Kompas on Sunday.
Sholeh added that they haven’t determined the fish’s cause of death.
Because of the lack of burial rites for fish – however magnificent they may be – the dead araipama was simply tossed into the river, presumably to become fish food.
Fate would have it that the dead fish resurfaced in Bogor for a final send off. It was reported that it took seven adult males to lift the fish and toss it back into the river.
We certainly hope it doesn’t wash up anywhere else downstream so it can rest peacefully in its watery grave.
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