Range and habitat
Native to the Amazon, Orinoco and Essequibo basins, the redtail lives in larger rivers, streams and lakes, from rapids to flooded forest. It is a bottom fish that feeds at night and rests motionless by day, eating fish, crabs and fallen fruit.
It is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, and it is a commercial food fish and a celebrated game fish.
The breeding season
In the Xingu River, spawning peaks at the start of the flood season, in January and February, and fish mature at about 78 cm standard length.
The name
Phractocephalus is Greek for "fenced head," from phraktos, fence, and kephale, head. It is the only living species in its genus; two fossil relatives are known from the late Miocene, and the genus is at least 13.5 million years old. In Brazil it is the pirarara.
Outside South America
Released pet redtails turn up in warm waters elsewhere. They have been found in Florida, but there is no established breeding population in the US.