Prized for its skin as much as its flesh, the pirarucu has long been a staple for Indigenous people who hunt the air-breathing fish in lakes in the Javari Valley.

But it has also become a much sought-after protein on the menus of gastronomic and fusion restaurants in Rio, Bogota and Lima—its rising popularity pushing up prices and raising the stakes for Amazon dwellers.

The growing appetite for pirarucu is blamed for the deaths last year of Indigenous rights defender Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips at the hands of fish poachers who hacked up the pair's bodies and hid the remains in the jungle.

In Brazil's Amazonas province, pirarucu harvesting is strictly regulated.

In the Javari Valley which holds the country's second-largest protected Indigenous reserve—home to seven tribes including the Kanamari—only residents may hunt it.

Yet, "they are stealing from us!" said Joao Filho Kanamari, an Amazon resident who takes his last name from his tribe which comes into regular conflict with intruders in pursuit of the prized fish.

'Cow of the Amazon'

For the Kanamari, the story of the pirarucu is that of "a tree leaf that fell into the water and became a giant fish," tribal chief Mauro da Silva Kanamari told AFP.