World’s largest freshwater fish caught in Cambodia

Fisher on the Mekong River caught a giant stingray that weighed almost 300kg.

A fisher in Cambodia has caught what scientists say is the world’s largest recorded freshwater fish, a giant stingray.

Captured on June 13, the stingray measured almost four meters (13 feet) from snout to tail and weighed slightly less than 300kg (660lbs), according to a statement on Monday by Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-US research project.

The previous record for a freshwater fish was a 293-kg (646-lb) Mekong giant catfish, discovered in Thailand in 2005, the group said.

Christened “Boramy”- meaning the full moon in the Khmer language – because of her bulbous shape, the stingray was caught south of Stung Treng on the Mekong River in northeastern Cambodia. It took about a dozen men to haul the fish ashore.

They alerted a nearby team of scientists from the Wonders of the Mekong project, which has publicized its conservation work in communities along the river.

The scientists arrived within hours of getting a post-midnight call with the news and were amazed at what they saw.

“When you see a fish this size, especially in freshwater, it is hard to comprehend, so I think all of our team was stunned,” Wonders of the Mekong leader Zeb Hogan said in an online interview from the University of Nevada in Reno.

Freshwater fish are defined as those that spend their entire lives in freshwater, as opposed to giant marine species such as bluefin tuna and marlin, or fish that migrate between fresh and saltwater like beluga sturgeon.

The discovery of the stingray was not just about setting a new record.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES