A new record has been broken: we have a new “biggest freshwater fish ever caught”: according to the NGO Wonders of Mekong, responsible for cataloging the local fisheries of the Mekong River, a stingray in Cambodia reached an impressive 300 kilograms (kg) and about four meters (m) in size.
The National Geographic team, which confirmed the measurements, said that the animal was caught by a man named Moul Thun, 42 years old. He lives on the island of Koh Preah, in the most remote part of the river in question.
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"This proves that these underwater 'leviathans', which are critically endangered, still exist," said Zeb Hogan, a marine biologist at the University of Nevada-Reno, and a researcher for National Geographic through his presentation of the Monster Fish program.
Hogan began documenting sightings of giant marine animals in 2005, when the previous record holder was discovered – a 293 kg catfish. He studied the animal extensively, always wondering if there were others like it out there somewhere.
Despite great discoveries (the arapaima able to breathe out of water for a short time in the Amazon and another catfish that hunted pigeons in Europe), Hogan always had various difficulties with the project: not only the lack of logistics and information about freshwater fish, he also dealt with the famous “fisherman's story” – an expression used to designate a person who tells a story in a much grander and exaggerated way than it really was.
The latter is a popular habit in Cambodia: quickly, you hear about a fisherman who caught “a 500 kg monster” and, in reality, the feat was nothing more than some fish, one and, one more than ever, not that big. like this.
Luck turned when the NGO team mentioned above received a call from Moul Thun, saying that he had caught – by accident – a stingray “bigger than anything” he had seen. The team went to the site to find out and, after extensive analysis, confirmed: the Cambodian stingray was indeed the largest freshwater fish ever caught.
The stingray – a female that appeared to be in excellent health – was tagged and cataloged by the NGO and then returned to the waters.
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