Name: The Dragon Behind the Glass
ISBN: 9781451678949

Emily Voigt

A journalist's quest to find a wild Asian arowana--the world's most expensive aquarium fish--takes her on a global tour through the bizarre realm of ornamental fish hobbyists to some of the most remote jungles on the planet.

A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World’s Most Coveted Fish

The Dragon Behind the Glass

Melanie Richards

A bit different than what I was expecting, but a good reminder how much everything is connected.

James Maskell

erin s

A riveting journey into the bizarre world of the Asian arowana or "dragon fish" the world's most expensive aquarium fish--reveals a surprising history with profound implications for the future of wild animals and human beings alike. The Dragon Behind the Glass tells the story of a fish like none other: a powerful predator dating to the age of the dinosaurs. Treasured as a status symbol believed to bring good luck, the Asian arowana is bred on high-security farms in Southeast Asia and sold by the hundreds of thousands each year. In the United States, however, it's protected by the Endangered Species Act and illegal to bring into the country--though it remains the object of a thriving black market. From the South Bronx to Singapore, journalist Emily Voigt follows the trail of the fish, ultimately embarking on a years-long quest to find the arowana in the wild, venturing deep into some of the last remaining tropical wildernesses on earth. In an age when freshwater fish now comprise one of the most rapidly vanishing groups of animals on the planet, Voigt unearths a paradoxical truth behind the dragon fish's rise to fame--one that calls into question how we protect the world's rarest species. An elegant exploration of the human conquest of nature, The Dragon Behind the Glass revels in the sheer wonder of life's diversity and lays bare our deepest desire--to hold onto what is wild.

The Dragon Behind the Glass A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World’s Most Coveted Fish

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