The world's largest freshwater fish has been searched for by a Biologist for 17 years. His team found a giant freshwater stingray.
The 13 foot long ray was hauled out of the murky waters of the Mekong River in Cambodia. It was 15 pounds heavier than a giant catfish caught in Thailand. According to Dr. Hogan, the freshwater fish was the biggest ever caught.
The giant stingray has a venomous barb that can reach nearly a foot in length, but it's not a threat to humans. They end up in the market as a source of cheap meat and poultry.
The Wonders of the Mekong Project, which works to protect the Southeast Asian river's aquatic diversity and is sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development, was informed by fishers in Cambodia that they had caught a large stingray. Team members lined up scales on a small river island. They lifted the stingray out of the water and put it on the scales.
Less than a month ago, a giant stingray was captured and released nearby. This year, two other enormous rays have been caught.
The world's largest freshwater fish was caught in Cambodia. The river faces a lot of challenges and is heavily populated.
For the first time, Dr. Hogan and his team were able to fit a stingray with an acoustic tag that could be used to track it for a year.
This is the first fish that has been tagged since the array was deployed. Hundreds of additional fishes will be tagged in the months to come.
Dr. Hogan believes that this stretch of the river and the deep pools it contains are a critical breeding ground for the giant stingray. There are freshwater dolphins, giant soft-shell turtles, giant catfish, and giant barb in the area.
It is a very unique place and under studied. More scientific attention is given to the river systems of North America and Europe.
The existence of this fish is an indicator of the health of its environment. He wanted the discovery to remind the community how important the river is and how much needs to be saved.
Big freshwater fish populations are in decline due to a number of factors. There are a lot of big fish that are in danger of disappearing.
The Chinese paddlefish, a contender for the world's largest freshwater fish, was killed off in 2020. I felt like we were going to see more extinctions of these big fish, rather than records being broken.
The giant fish stories have been going on for a long time. A record-setting lake sturgeon was caught and released. In May, a nearly 300-pound alligator gar may have broken the Texas state record for freshwater fish, though the angler decided to release the animal rather than kill it and bring it in to be weighed.
It is a good sign when you hear about record fish.
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