Pearl gourami

Amazing fact

The pearl gourami can take in oxygen from the air using its labyrinth organ.

Zoo Zürich

Pearl gourami in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

The pearl gourami can take in oxygen from the air using its labyrinth organ.

SourceZoo Zürich — Pearl gourami

THE REAL WORLD

The real Pearl gourami

Scientific name: Trichopodus leerii
Japanese name: パールグラミー
Group: Freshwater animals

Order: Anabantiformes
Family: Osphronemidae
Genus: Trichopodus

Facts about the real animal.

A fish that lives on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo.

鳥羽水族館 — パールグラミー

Its whole body is sprinkled with pearl-like spots.

鳥羽水族館 — パールグラミー

When a male is ready to breed, he becomes even more dazzling.

鳥羽水族館 — パールグラミー

How the Pearl gourami lives

It lives in overgrown, shaded parts of the water. It mainly eats small insects, their larvae and crustaceans. The male builds a bubble nest at the surface, stabilizing it with a secretion from his mouth. The male gathers fry that leave the nest or sink into his mouth and returns them to the nest.

Zoo Frankfurt

Basic data

Range: Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo

鳥羽水族館

Where the Pearl gourami 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 livesAsia 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: パールグラミー
简体中文: 珍珠毛足鲈
繁體中文: 珍珠毛足鬥魚
Español: Gurami perla
Deutsch: Mosaikfadenfisch
Português (Brasil): Gourami-arlequim
Italiano: Gurami perla
العربية: جرامي لؤلؤي
Bahasa Indonesia: Sepat mutiara
Русский: Жемчужный гурами
Türkçe: İnci gurami
ไทย: ปลากระดี่มุก

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 — パールグラミーChecked: 2026-11-04
Zoo Zürich — Pearl gouramiChecked: 2026-11-07
Zoo Frankfurt — Pearl gouramiChecked: 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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