Cambodian Catches World's Largest Recorded Freshwater Fish

The world's largest freshwater fish, a giant stingray, has been caught in Cambodia.

According to a statement Monday by Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-U.S. research project, the stingray measured almost 13 feet from snout to tail and weighed almost 600 pounds.

The previous record for a freshwater fish was found in Thailand in 2005, according to the group.

A fisherman in northeastern Cambodia caught a stingray. A team of scientists from the Wonders of the Mekong project were notified by a fisherman.

The scientists were amazed at what they saw when they arrived after midnight.

When you see a fish of this size, especially in freshwater, it's hard to comprehend, so I think all of our team was stunned. The university is working with the Cambodian Fisheries Administration.

The term freshwater fish refers to fish that spend their entire lives in the water, rather than fish that migrate between freshwater and saltwater.

He said that the catch was not just about setting a record.

The fact that the fish can still get this big is a positive sign for the river.

The river runs through seven countries. There are several species of giant freshwater fish in the area. Scientists are concerned that a program of dam building may be disrupting spawning grounds.

The big fish are in danger. They are high value. It takes a long time for them to mature. They don't have a chance to reproduce if they're fished before they're grown up. Large areas are needed for these big fish to survive. They are impacted by habitat destruction from dams. 70% of giant freshwater fish are in danger of extinction.

A team that rushed to the site put a device near the tail of the fish to tag it. Tracking information will be sent to the device for the next year.

The giant stingray isn't understood very well. Its scientific name has changed many times in the last 20 years. We have no information about it. We don't know much about its past. We don't know much about it.

Four giant stingrays have been reported in the same area in the last two months, all of them females. They think this could be a spawning area.

The locals nicknamed it the "full moon" because it was on the horizon when it was released. The fisherman who caught the record-breaker was compensated at market rate, meaning he got a payment of $600.