Geographical Distribution: Amazon, Araguaia-Tocantins, São Francisco andPrata basins. Widely distributed in South America, but there is probably more than one species receiving this name.

Description: Fish that has leather skin, large size (can reach over 4.92 ft m in length and weigh 220 lbs). The body is thick and short and the head is big and flat. The color varies from light green to dark brown on the back, but the belly is white; young individuals have light spots spread throughout the back.

Ecology: Piscivorous species living in the river canal, particularly in the wells of the rapids, where it goes during the period of low water following the shoals of Characidae (especially streaked prochilod) that migrate upstream. In the Amazon, it is not a commercially important fish, but it is appreciated in southeastern Brazil. The pressure by the slaughterhouses that export steaks of this species is huge and they have been responsible for the drop on the capture of the species in Amazon.