The Golden Dorado is a large river fish that lives in South America. Its binomial name is Salminus maxillosus. Even though it has Salminus in its name, the dorado is not related to salmon, nor to the saltwater fish also called dorado. Dorado have large heads, with powerful jaws that are filled with sharp teeth. They average about 3 feet long, and are golden colored. The average size of the golden dorado is about 6-25 pounds, but the largest recorded size is 68 pounds.

Dorado live in the warm waters of the Plata and Amazon systems in South America, specifically in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia. Dorados have a wide variety of prey - fish, frogs, birds, and small mammals. One of the dorados favorite food are sabalo, a type of schooling fish of two to six pounds.