Why the Amazon Peacock Bass Is Such a Great Battling Sport Fish to Hook

Why the Amazon Peacock Bass Is Such a Great Battling Sport Fish to Hook

The Amazon peacock bass is not actually a bass. A native of the Amazon River basin, it is a member of the cichlid family (pronounced sicklid). You've probably seen cichlids in tropical, freshwater fish tanks, as their wide variety of shapes and colors, for example, the angelfish and the discus, make them highly popular with home aquarists.

The peacock bass, however, is no cute little aquarium fish. This is a serious sportfish that puts up a tremendous fight, to the extent that fishing trips to Florida and Brazil, among other places, have become popular destinations with travel agents. Described by top fishermen as the world's fiercest fighting fish, with a reputation for aggression and demolishing fishing tackle, this monster fights like a Bengal tiger once it's on your hook.

There are currently seventeen species of peacock bass identified, including two as yet unnamed. The three best known are the speckled, the royal and the butterfly peacock bass. The largest of these is the speckled, which can grow up to a meter (over three feet) in length. The smallest is the royal, which reaches around fifty-five centimeters (approximately 22 inches).

The Amazon peacock bass has a striking appearance, with three distinctive vertical stripes on its body and a "peacock's eye" on its tail fin that gives it its name, both in English and Spanish (pavon). You will often see them referred to in English language articles as tucanare, their Brazilian name, Brazil being the country with the largest native peacock bass population.

Much as anglers love the fish for sport, there are environmentalists who don't entirely share that love. They see the peacock bass as a pest when it is introduced into waters where it almost wipes out the native fish population. In the Brazilian Rosana Reservoir and the upper Parana River, for instance, within two years of their introduction, the density of native fish had fallen by 95%.

In cases where they are introduced, the peacock bass will thrive, due to the easy prey native to the water. Once these prey are depleted, however, the peacocks have to resort to cannibalism and their numbers fall and stabilize.

A fascinating case is that of Gatun Lake in Panama, where, in the late nineteen fifties, some peacock bass fry were washed into a creek from an amateur aquarist's breeding pond. These finished up in Gatun Lake and by 1964, the lake and local waters were inundated with peacock bass, giving freshwater anglers some great unexpected sport.

In Florida, in 1984, following a ten year study by the Game and Fish Commission, upwards of twenty thousand butterfly peacock bass were introduced, to reduce the numbers of exotic fish that had begun to thrive in the Miami-Dade County canals and lakes. The voracious butterfly peacock bass went to work at once on the spotted tilapia and oscars, fulfilling its intended role.

The only place the Amazon peacock bass can survive on the mainland is the southern part of Florida, due to its inability to survive in the lower temperatures any further north. Unsuccessful attempts are made from time to time to introduce them to cooler waters, but they cannot tolerate the temperature, nor can they survive in water with a higher salinity than freshwater. Those places where they have been introduced and thrive are dream destinations for the angler who loves a fish that puts up a battle. If this sounds like you, you won't be disappointed.

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