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Biologist Zeb Hogan has been searching for the world’s largest freshwater fish for 17 years. On June 13, his team found him – a giant freshwater stingray, or Urogymnus polylepis.
Extracted from the turbid waters of the Mekong River in Cambodia, the beam measured 13 feet long before being returned to the river. And at 661 pounds, it was 15 pounds heavier. A Mekong giant catfish caught in Thailand in 2005. Dr. Hogan said he had previously determined that the freshwater fish was the largest ever caught.
Although this species of giant stingray has an extremely dangerous venomous spine that can reach almost a foot in length, they generally pose no threat to humans. More often, they come on the market as an inexpensive source of protein.
Fishermen in Cambodia were first introduced to the Mekong Wonders Project, which works to conserve the water diversity of the Southeast Asian river and is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development. They warned Hogan and his team that they had caught a bigger stingray than ever before. seen. Team members rushed to the small river island of Koh Preah and lined up three industrial scales. Using a tarp, they pulled the stingray out of the water and lifted it onto the scales to verify its weight.
The discovery came less than a month after another giant stingray – weighing 400 kilos – caught and released recently. Two more massive rays were also caught this year.
“It is remarkable that the world’s largest freshwater fish was caught in the Mekong” Dr. Hogan aforementioned. “This is a densely populated area and the river faces many challenges, including a lot of fishing.”
In another first, Dr. Hogan’s team was able to attach an acoustic tag to the stingrays to track the animal for up to a year, with 36 underwater sensors recently installed on a portion of the river.
Reno, a research associate professor at the University of Nevada, Dr. “This is the first fish we’ve tagged since we installed the array,” Hogan said. They plan to tag hundreds of additional fish in the coming months.
Dr. Hogan believes this section of the river and the deep pools it contains are a critical breeding ground for the species, with many giant stingrays, all female, caught in recent months. The area is also home to freshwater dolphins, giant soft-shelled turtles, giant catfish and giant carp barbs.
“So it’s a very unique place and very little studied,” he said. North American and European river systems are of much greater scientific interest.
While breaking a world record isn’t scientifically important, Dr. Hogan said the presence of this fish is an indicator of the health of its ecosystem. He also hoped the discovery would remind the local community how special this river is and how much it needs to be saved.
Due to a combination of factors such as dam construction, overfishing and climate change, large freshwater fish populations are often in decline. And many species of big fish are in danger of extinction forever.
Dr. “In 2020, one of the contenders for the world’s largest freshwater fish known as the Chinese shovelfish was declared extinct,” Hogan said. “This was very sad news and I felt we would see more extinctions of these big fish instead of records being broken.”
Fortunately, giant rays aren’t the only giant fish stories lately. broke the record in 2021 240-pound lake sturgeon He was caught and released in the Detroit River. And in May, a 300-pound alligator gar It may have broken the Texas state record for freshwater fish, though the angler chose to release the animal rather than kill it and bring it to be weighed.
Dr. “When you hear stories about record fish, that bodes well,” Hogan said.
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