# Can an arapaima survive out of water for any significant period? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2015, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-arapaima-survive-out-of-water-for-any-significant-period/729474 "2015-08-31T04:57:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-arapaima-survive-out-of-water-for-any-significant-period/729474/1 "2015-08-31T04:57:52Z")
Can an arapaima survive out of water for any significant period? ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-arapaima-survive-out-of-water-for-any-significant-period/729474/2 "2015-08-31T05:11:56Z")
Reported for forum change ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-arapaima-survive-out-of-water-for-any-significant-period/729474/3 "2015-08-31T06:52:13Z")
Thanks for reporting – apparently I can’t tell the difference between Great and General. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-arapaima-survive-out-of-water-for-any-significant-period/729474/4 "2015-08-31T13:48:03Z")
What do you consider a significant period? And what do you mean by survive? They are large fish, they should be able to stay out of water for a while, but at some point even if still alive they may not recover when returned to the water. That’s the same for many fish. Need answer fast? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-arapaima-survive-out-of-water-for-any-significant-period/729474/5 "2015-08-31T14:31:45Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Need answer fast? LOL! Significant period? How would its out-of-water survivability compare with a shark that does not even have a gas bladder? How would it compare to an Australian lungfish that has lungs and can go for days? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-arapaima-survive-out-of-water-for-any-significant-period/729474/6 "2015-08-31T14:51:04Z")
I don’t remember the details but my recollection is that fresh water fish in general can survive out of the water longer than salt water fish. Most of what I know about Arapaima in particular comes from watching River Monsters, so that’s not much, but many South American fish have to survive long periods in muddy shallow water and likely have the ability to gulp air and cross short stretches of wet land to move from puddle to puddle. [The wiki has this to say specifically](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arapaima): > [@](#): > > The arapaima has a fundamental dependence on surface air to breathe. In addition to gills, it has a modified and enlarged swim bladder, composed of lung-like tissue, which enables it to extract oxygen from the air. While it’s young might be able to cross land readily the adults are quite large and probably limited in that ability. I think without the ability to produce a mucous coating the Arapaima would quickly dehydrate totally out of water, but can probably do quite well in mud or wet grass for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-arapaima-survive-out-of-water-for-any-significant-period/729474/7 "2015-08-31T15:52:24Z")
It also has very tough scales, which may assist it in crossing short distances on land in desperate situations (i.e. moving from a small evaporating pool to a larger one), but those scales depend on hydration for flexibility, so I imagine it would have to be minutes or hours, not days or weeks.