South Australian Arowana is a lesser known Arowana species that are native to Australia. More commonly it is known as southern saratoga. Now this is a very rare species of arowana. Southern saratoga is very less known outside its country of origin. Besides, even people in aquarium trade are alien to this variation of Australian arowana.
So, let us understand more deeply about southern saratoga.
Theory of Evolution of southern saratoga.
You can look at my previous post about arowana facts for the theory of evolution of arowana fish. The ancestors of Asian and Australian arowana families were same. Actually with the drifting of Indian plate towards Asian plate in lower Jurassic period caused the bifercation.
So the drift resulted in separation of Asian and Australian arowana lines. Following this there is a period of hundreds of years that again bifurcated Australian lines into three. These were northern saratoga or Jardini, southern saratoga and one more even lesser known and rare line.
The Jardini is more wide spread than southern saratoga. southern saratoga is found in a very limited area of southern Australia. They happen to dwell where they are not easily visible because of trubid waters.
Difference in weight weight affects your heart..
Therefore it is easy to witness similarities between Asian arowana and Australian arowana. But with a little experience anyone can differentiate. This ease is not as such in case of differentiating between Australian lines. This is because there are not many differences between then. In fact they are visible to an experienced and keen eye. So, let us examine these in details.
massive difference that I can point out is the difference between the build of two species. Remember here that ancestors of both jardini and southern saratoga are same. Between these two line the Jardini is massively build. In fact the Jardini is the heaviest and with highest muscle density in all osteoglossidae family.
southern saratoga is more lightly build. In fact it resembles a young juvenile Jardini. So, what exactly is the difference? Some studies tell us that a fully developed southern saratoga is around 90 cm in length. At this lenght they weigh just 4 to 4.5 kg.
Now, would you like to know how much does a jardini weighs? At same length Jardini weighs around massive 16 to 18 kgs. Yeah! That is true. A well fed or a happy wild free roaming jardini weighs that much. Some sources suggest that a free roaming adult Jardini at its prime in wild provided with ample food will cross 105 cm in length and will be over 25 kg. That is how massive a jardini is.
Length of southern saratoga arowana.
Southern saratoga is a bit shorter in lenght than the jardini. A jardini may reach around three and a half feet in length and more. Even longer jardini arowanas are reported in slow moving very wide river mouths of Australia. They may even touch a length of four feet.
Whereas a southern saratoga has been reported to have touched 3 feet in length. They don’t grow that much. Just around subtle three feet.
Difference in width.
Southern saratoga is a sleek fish compared to jardini. Their bodies expand just about 23% of their total length. So, if a it is 36 inches long then in ideal conditions it will be 8.3 inches wide. That is thin even by Asian arowana standards.
Now let us look at jardini under same parameters. Jardini actually reaches around 28% in widht of its body length. So, if a jardini is 36 inches long then in ideal conditions it will be 10.8 inches wide. That is whole 2.5 inches difference in width.
This may be a small number but in a fish a 2.5 inch difference throughout its 3 feet length is substantial. That is just massive.
Scales of southern saratoga.
There are 4-5 rows of scales present on this fish. Scales are close fitting and small. The color of scales and that of the body is graded. The scales are somewhat olive in colors and tend to be a shade of faded grey at the edges. The scales have a single red or pale pink dot.
Also moving downwards the color tends to fade with a pale whitish yellow at the belly. A little bit brighter than the jardini.
Physical profile.
As i told you earlier the southern saratoga is smaller and sleek by a considerable margin then jardini. A few characteristics worthy of mentioning here is are the shape and back profile. The fish is a bit linear and straight than that of jardini. The back is flat, may be because of less amount of muscle on this fish.
Care
Caring routine is similar to that of other arowana species. You need large tank or a pond. Water volume is very important. They need huge amount of water. Depth is not very necessary. Length and width are very important. Filtration is also a primary concern. Feeding might not be challenging because they will consume most meats and other specialized arowana foods.
All these topics i have already covered in my earlier post. For your convenience I am providing a few links here so you can extract that information easily.
Arowana Fish Food : Best Food, Fish Food, Price
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