Tambaqui

Amazing fact

Tambaqui sometimes carry seeds far away by eating them and passing them intact in their droppings.

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

Tambaqui sometimes carry seeds far away by eating them and passing them intact in their droppings.

SourceARTIS — Tambaqui Colossoma macropomum

THE REAL WORLD

The real Tambaqui

Scientific name: Colossoma macropomum
Japanese name: コロソマ
Group: Freshwater animals

Order: Characiformes
Family: Serrasalmidae
Genus: Colossoma

Facts about the real animal.

Where the name “Tambaqui” comes from

The soma part of its scientific name means body.

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A fish of the Amazon River that grows bigger than the fish called red colossoma.

鳥羽水族館 — コロソマ

As it grows, the upper and lower parts of its body become different colors.

鳥羽水族館 — コロソマ

How the Tambaqui lives

They move into flooded forests when water is high and into rivers when water is low. Molar-like teeth and long projections on their gills let them eat nuts, seeds, and zooplankton. They spawn in rivers at the start of the high-water season. Young fish enter flooded forests and lakes.

U.S. Geological Survey

Basic data

Size: Total length: 50 cm or more
Range: Amazon River

鳥羽水族館

Where the Tambaqui has been recorded

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesCentral and South America Rivers and wetlands

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

日本語: コロソマ
简体中文: 大盖巨脂鲤
繁體中文: 大蓋巨脂鯉
Español: Tambaquí
Français: Pacu
Deutsch: Schwarzer Pacu
Português (Brasil): Tambaqui
Italiano: Tambaqui
Bahasa Indonesia: Bawal air tawar
Русский: Бурый паку
ไทย: ปลาคู้ดำ

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

鳥羽水族館 — コロソマChecked: 2026-11-04
U.S. Geological Survey — Tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) - Species ProfileChecked: 2026-11-07
ARTIS — Tambaqui Colossoma macropomumChecked: 2026-11-07

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

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