The largest freshwater fish in the world found in the Mekong River. Scientists have confirmed it.
Reported BBCThursday (23/6/2022), Stingray weighing 300 kg caught in Mekong River part of Cambodia. It is the largest freshwater fish ever documented.
The find overturns the previous record holder, the 293 kg Mekong giant catfish caught in Thailand in 2005. However, until now there has been no official record of the world’s largest freshwater fish.
The Mekong River is rich in biodiversity but overfishing, dams and pollution threaten its fragile ecosystem.
It flows from the Tibetan plateau and through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
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The world’s largest freshwater fish, the stingray from Cambodia’s Mekong River (Photo: Wonders of the Mekong/Facebook)– |
“In 20 years of researching giant fish in rivers and lakes on six continents, this is the largest freshwater fish we have encountered or documented worldwide,” said Zeb Hogan, biologist who leads Wonders of the Mekong, a conservation project from USAID. .
“Finding and documenting this fish is extraordinary, and a rare sign of positive hope, even more so because it is happening in the Mekong, a river that is currently facing many challenges,” added Dr Hogan, who is also a professor at the University of Nevada.
The conservation project is working with the Fisheries Administration of Cambodia to set up a network of fishermen who alert researchers if they catch giant or endangered fish.
On the evening of June 13, a local fisherman on Koh Preah Island called to inform researchers that he had caught a very large stingray. It turned out to be 3.98 meters long and 2.2 meters wide.
 The world’s largest freshwater fish, the stingray in the Mekong River (Photo: Wonders of the Mekong/Facebook)– |
After being tagged to track their future movements, the stingray was released back into the river. It disappeared into the muddy waters of the Mekong around the afternoon.
In the local Khmer language, the fish is called Boramy, which means full moon.
“The discovery of the stingray is proof that nature can still make new and amazing discoveries, and many of the largest aquatic creatures are still very understudied,” said Dr Hogan.
The giant freshwater stingray is an endangered species. This is Stingray the second giant examined by the team since May with the previous weighing 181 kg.
Watch Videos “300 Kg Giant Freshwater Stingray Found in Cambodia“
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(msl/fem)
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