Great River #3

Amazon- The Greatest River

Here is a glimpse into the rich and vibrant underwater life of the Amazon. When the large, serpent-like arapaimas swim past the camera, you will get a close-up look at one of the largest freshwater fish in the world. The ones you can see here range from five to six feet in length, but may reach up to ten feet and weigh 300 pounds. Red-tailed catfish, black pacus, and other fish share this 27,000-gallon aquarium below a living tropical forest.

Amazonia LiveCam

The Amazon is the greatest river in the world by so many measures; the volume of water it carries to the sea (approximately 20% of all the freshwater discharge into the oceans), the area of land that drains into it, and its length and width. It is one of the longest rivers in the world and, depending upon who you talk to, is anywhere between 6,259km/3,903mi and 6,712km/4,195mi long.

Read the entire article about the Amazon River from Elizabeth Keller at ExtremeScience.com

By: Zookeeper - 2007-08-11 17:46:40