![]() However, overfishing, pollution and other factors have caused populations to dwindle. What has long been one of the great wildlife mysteries the identity of the world’s largest freshwater fish appears to have been solved last week as fishers in northern Cambodia, working with an international team of scientists including from the University of Nevada, Reno's Wonders of the Mekong research team, discovered a 661-pound (300 kilos) giant freshwater stingray near a remote. The Mekong River has the third-most diverse fish population in the world, according to the Mekong River Commission. In addition to the honor of having caught the record-breaker, the lucky fisherman was compensated at market rate, meaning he received a payment of around $600. Local residents nicknamed the stingray "Boramy," or "full moon," because of its round shape and because the moon was on the horizon when it was freed on June 14. They think this may be a spawning hotspot for the species. Researchers say it's the fourth giant stingray reported in the same area in the past two months, all of them females. We don't know about its ecology, about its migration patterns." "It's found throughout Southeast Asia, but we have almost no information about it. Its name, even its scientific name, has changed several times in the last 20 years," Hogan said. "The giant stingray is a very poorly understood fish. The team that rushed to the site inserted a tagging device near the tail of the mighty fish that will send tracking information for the next year, providing unprecedented data on giant stingray behavior in Cambodia. So about 70% of giant freshwater fish globally are threatened with extinction, and all of the Mekong species." They're impacted by things like habitat fragmentation from dams, obviously impacted by overfishing. "A lot of these big fish are migratory, so they need large areas to survive. ![]() So if they're fished before they mature, they don't have a chance to reproduce," Hogan said. In particular, scientists fear a major program of dam building in recent years may be seriously disrupting spawning grounds. It is home to several species of giant freshwater fish but environmental pressures are rising. This species is listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).The Mekong River runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Hogan and his team have tagged 18 of this species of stingrays (Himantura chaophraya) as part of the recently established research project on the stingray in central Thailand for the University of Nevada, Reno, the Thai Department of Fisheries, the sport-fishing company Fishsiam and the National Geographic Society sponsored Megafishes Project. The find could mean that the ray population is smaller, or less migratory, than originally believed.īiologists continue to track the big fish’s movements using an array of underwater listening devices designed to detect tagged fish. Geological Survey, the planets largest freshwater fish is the beluga sturgeon ( Huso huso ), living between Europe and Asia in the Black, Azov and Caspian seas, and the rivers feeding them. "Surprisingly, we caught the stingray again four weeks later on Feb. The current record holder for world’s largest freshwater fish is a 646-pound Mekong giant catfish caught by fishermen in northern Thailand in 2005.Īfter the first catch, the researchers encountered the stingray again, about 4 kilometers away from where they initially caught it. "It's clear that this species of giant freshwater stingray has the potential to be the largest freshwater fish in the world," Hogan said. "This recent fish was very thick, so it may have weighed more." "In terms of disk width, this is the second largest stingray I’ve seen, the largest was in Cambodia in 2003," Hogan said. An even slightly larger fish than the one tagged would almost certainly be a world record freshwater fish, he said. ![]() Hogan, along with his team of researchers and anglers on site at the time of capture, approximate the fish’s weight to be between 550 and 770 pounds. ![]() The fish, caught by volunteer angler Ian Welch from a small boat using a rod and reel, will be featured in an upcoming documentary airing on the National Geographic Channel.
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