How to pronounce “arow” in English

Yeah, it's beautiful. But it is the super red-- which nobody in here knows what we're talking about.So arowana-- I should also just back up for a second and explain that it's a family of fish.So there's seven species across the tropics of the globe.

So little show fish show up in their plastic baggies and compete for top prizes.But the arowana are, by far, the star attraction of this show.So when I was there, the biggest thing that happened that year were that there were these 10 albino arowanas.

I still can't wrap my mind around how much some of the fish in the book that you were describing were being sold for.So speaking of the arowana-- you guys have seen the cover.This is the arowana.

So speaking of the arowana-- you guys have seen the cover.This is the arowana.It is really dramatic.

I was talking to him about what made the fish so valuable.And the arowana was the one that caught me in particular.

I was talking to him about what made the fish so valuable.Don't Google arowana eats duckling.

I was talking to him about what made the fish so valuable.And especially the arowana world.

to write a great story about wildlife.Around the time my curiosity in the arowana began, I've been awarded a fellowship intended to fund a reporting project abroad.Now, I knew how I'd use it.

And you explain, at some point, that because of supply and demand, there's these fish farms.And they're breeding these arowana and other rare fish, which may be causing a negative effectwith the natural wild population.

I was talking to him about what made the fish so valuable.And for that reason-- when the arowana was in a bad way-- the Asian arowana-- in the 90s, they

Others suspected that a crime syndicate was behind the thefts, a sort of shadowy fish mafia.Bolstering this theory was a harrowing case in Indonesia where an arowana dealer and his heavily armed cronies allegedly kidnapped and held for ransom a Japanese buyer.Despite all this criminality, however, the trade in the farmed fish was legal, not only in Asia, but throughout most of the world,

Now, I knew how I'd use it.I would go see for myself where all these smuggled arowana were coming from and what made the species so irresistible.Goodall had her noble tool wielding primates.

They were called guppy kingdom.And I mean-- the guppy versus inverse the arowana.Big difference. Little bit.

So there's seven species across the tropics of the globe.And the really expensive one is the Asian arowana.That's also the most endangered one.

I was talking to him about what made the fish so valuable.So I ended up going after a new species of arowana in Myanmar.

scene, complete with record breaking prices, anonymous buyers, stolen specimens, unsavory dealers, and even clever fakes.Whatever the best metaphor, it seemed the Asian arowana had a long history of driving human beings to dangerous extremes.One summer in college, I read Jane Goodall's "In the Shadow of Man," and ever since, I dreamed of venturing into the jungle

But as you were writing the book, what would you say were some of your greatest challenges when you were researching and meetingthese different characters and people, looking for the arowana?So you talk about how outlandish the world is.

The reason for the heavy security became clear as I dug deeper into the international news archive that chronicled a spate of fish theftsacross Southeast Asia. In Malaysia, five arowana stolen from a woman's house were worth more than all her other possessions combined.Singapore, which boasts one of the lowest crime rates in the world, once reported four such heists in a single week.

Big difference. Little bit.Yeah, not just in size-- the guppy is like this big and the arowana is pretty huge-- but also in price, and mystique, and so forth.So Kenny had come along at a point where there was a sexy make over of the ornamental fish trade, a very traditional trade.

So he's always just beaming in ecstasy.But when I asked him about-- and so he offered me this wonderful entry point into the world of the arowana.But when I asked him about-- well, what about all these fish robberies that I read about.

Thank you. So I guess-- I was-- get you to pivot a little.I was surprised going through the book-- I was expecting an Indiana Jones pursuit of this arowana.But what kind of struck me was how much conservation came up throughout the-- I just feel like notes of conservation

I was talking to him about what made the fish so valuable.But the truth is, you really can't write about the arowana or any fish, I think, today, without coming face

I was talking to him about what made the fish so valuable.I don't think I'm giving anything away when I say that there-- this new Myanmar arowana-- there actually was a new species that

But would you like to give us all a quick summary of what your inspiration was for the book?Yeah. So I thought I would just start by telling people how I first heard about this fish, the Asian arowana that "The Dragon Behind The Glass" was about.It was back in 2009-- so seven years ago.

The one major exception, other than the United States, being Australia which bans the species to protect its own tropical fauna.A few years back, a 45-year-old housewife was arrested at the Melbourne airport trying to enter the country with 51 fish, including an Asian arowana hidden beneath her poofy skirt.'We became suspicious after hearing these flipping and flapping noises,' a customs officials later told the press.

And there is a genuine sense of menace that's connected with this.So for example, a Malaysian member of parliament, while I was reporting on this, received a text message with a dead arowana.And they took it seriously as a death threat.

But the arowana are, by far, the star attraction of this show.So when I was there, the biggest thing that happened that year were that there were these 10 albino arowanas.As albinos were the ones that sold for the most money, historically.

I thought it was a dragon-- like, legitimately.What would you say are-- well, first, I guess, is this the actual super red arowana that you were looking for?And then how did you go about choosing this particular image?

I was talking to him about what made the fish so valuable.And I think you've mentioned it already, but just for the audience, I thought the arowana was this small goldfish.