Pira is fish in the Tupi language; rucu from urucu perhaps, a fruit yielding a reddish dye used for body paint. “Red fish,” a reference, no doubt, to the creature’s crimson tail.

The pirarucu, the giant fish of the Amazon, was an endangered species. Due to conservation efforts, it's making a comeback. Now a big fish story - seriously. In the Amazon jungle, there is a ...

FILE - Three pirarucu fish, captured by brothers Gibson, right, and Manuel Cunha Da Lima, front, sit on a floating warehouse in San Raimundo settlement, at Medio Jurua region, Amazonia State ...

In the riverine communities, people eat the fish, skin and all. But in the big slaughterhouses, where the bulk of the pirarucu catch is processed, the skin was being discarded.

SAO RAIMUNDO, Brazil - Even in the most biodiverse rainforest of the world, the pirarucu stands out: It can weigh up to 440 pounds, by far the largest of 2,300 known fish species in the Amazon.

Fisherman pull with a Pirarucu fish at a lake in San Raimundo settlement lake, Carauari, Brazil, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022. Along the Jurua River, a tributary of the Amazon, riverine settlers and ...

SAO RAIMUNDO, Brazil - Even in the most biodiverse rainforest of the world, the pirarucu stands out: It can weigh up to 440 pounds, by far the largest of 2,300 known fish species in the Amazon.

Its white flesh is tender and tasty, it can measure up to three meters long and weigh more than 200 kilograms: meet the pirarucu, one of the world's largest freshwater fish, and native to the Amazon.

The fish, also known as pirarucu, gets up to 10 feet (3 meters) long and weighs up to 440 pounds (200 kg).

A man separates leather from the body of a pirarucu fish at an industrial refrigeration factory of Asproc, Association of Rural Producers of Carauari, Amazonia, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022.

Pirarucu managed fishing began in the Amazon 25 years ago in the Mamiraua region and has since expanded. It helped the Amazon’s largest fish escape risk of extinction and is now an important ...