Oscar of the Amazon

This Oscar may not win an Academy Award this weekend, but he is no less a star…. at least in Peru and other South American countries that share the Amazon River Basin.  Also called a Tiger Oscar, it can have a blue-black background with an orange-red pattern. The dorsal fin has an eyespot that is very brightly colored.  Several varieties of Oscars are from the cichlid family known under a variety of common names including velvet and marble cichlid. But all of the different strains of Oscar are a distant relative of the original wild Oscar that is native to the Amazon.

The Amazon River has the richest biodiversity of any river in the world. Oscar is only one of some 2,500 known species of fish that call the Amazon home. But scientists suspect that there are many more that have not yet been identified.

To explore the natural wealth that Peru’s Amazon River Basin has to offer, consider a four-night river cruise on our Peru’s Amazing Amazon, and learn about the people and wildlife that inhabit this remarkable region.