This isn’t about the interesting movie “Big Fish”, it’s about the real species living in the Mekong River in Asia, it’s called the Mekong Giant Catfish (Pangasianodon Gigas).
Back on May 1st this year, a team of fisherman in northern Thailand struggled for more than an hour to haul a Mekong giant catfish in. It was nearly nine feet long (2.7 meters) and weighed 646 pounds (293 kilograms). It maybe the largest freshwater fish ever recorded. Despite efforts to keep the Mekong giant catfish alive, it died and was later eaten by villagers.
The Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) species is listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), which means it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. The rare specimen, captured in Chiang Khong district, is the largest since Thailand began keeping records in 1981.
The giant catfish is currently the focus of a World Wildlife Fund and National Geographic Society project to identify and study the planet’s biggest freshwater fish—those that grow to 220 pounds (100 kilograms) in weight or more than 6.5 feet (two meters) in length.
“It’s amazing to think that giants like this still swim in some of the world’s rivers,” said project leader Zeb Hogan, a National Geographic Society emerging explorer and a WWF conservation science fellow.
“We believe this catfish is the current record-holder—an astonishing find,” Hogan added. “I have heard of three-meter-plus [ten-foot] catfish in Bulgaria, 500-kilogram [1,100-kilogram] stingrays in Southeast Asia, and five-meter [16-foot] arapaima in the Amazon, but up until now we have not been able to confirm these reports.”
Other contenders for the title of world’s largest freshwater fish include the Chinese paddlefish and dog-eating catfish—another Mekong giant.
Via: National Geographic News
Extra Reading: Big Trouble for Asia’s Giant Catfish
