BANGKOK (AP) — The world’s largest recorded freshwater fish, an enormous stingray, has been caught within the Mekong River in Cambodia, in response to scientists from the Southeast Asian nation and the United States.
The stingray, captured on June 13, measured nearly 4 meters (13 toes) from snout to tail and weighed just below 300 kilograms (660 kilos), in response to an announcement Monday by Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-U.S. analysis mission.
The earlier document for a freshwater fish was a 293-kilogram (646-pound) Mekong large catfish, found in Thailand in 2005, the group stated.
The stingray was snagged by a neighborhood fisherman south of Stung Treng in northeastern Cambodia. The fisherman alerted a close-by crew of scientists from the Wonders of the Mekong mission, which has publicized its conservation work in communities alongside the river.
A person touches an enormous freshwater stingray earlier than it’s launched again into the Mekong River within the northeastern province of Stung Treng, Cambodia.
The scientists arrived inside hours of getting a post-midnight name with the information and have been amazed at what they noticed.
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“Yeah, 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 chief Zeb Hogan stated in a web based interview from the University of Nevada in Reno. The college is partnering with the Cambodian Fisheries Administration and USAID, the U.S. authorities’s worldwide growth company.
Freshwater fish are outlined as those who spend their complete lives in freshwater, versus large marine species corresponding to bluefin tuna and marlin, or fish that migrate between recent and saltwater like the large beluga sturgeon.
The stingray’s catch was not nearly setting a brand new document, Hogan stated.
“The fact that the fish can still get this big is a hopeful sign for the Mekong River, ” he stated, noting that the waterway faces many environmental challenges.
The Mekong River runs via China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is dwelling to a number of species of large freshwater fish, however environmental pressures are rising. In explicit, scientists worry a significant program of dam constructing in recent times could also be severely disrupting spawning grounds.
“Big fish globally are endangered. They’re high-value species. They take a long time to mature. So if they’re fished before they mature, they don’t have a chance to reproduce,” Hogan stated. “A lot of these big fish are migratory, so they need large areas to survive. They’re impacted by things like habitat fragmentation from dams, obviously impacted by overfishing. So about 70% of giant freshwater fish globally are threatened with extinction, and all of the Mekong species.”
The crew that rushed to the positioning inserted a tagging machine close to the tail of the mighty fish earlier than releasing it. The machine will ship monitoring info for the subsequent yr, offering unprecedented knowledge on large stingray conduct in Cambodia.
“The giant stingray is a very poorly understood fish. Its name, even its scientific name, has changed several times in the last 20 years,” Hogan stated. “It’s found throughout Southeast Asia, but we have almost no information about it. We don’t know about its life history. We don’t know about its ecology, about its migration patters.”
Researchers say it is the fourth large stingray reported in the identical space prior to now two months, all of them females. They assume this can be a spawning hotspot for the species.
Local residents nicknamed the stingray “Boramy,” or “full moon,” due to its spherical form and since the moon was on the horizon when it was freed on June 14. In addition to the glory of getting caught the record-breaker, the fortunate fisherman was compensated at market fee, which means he acquired a cost of round $600.
Photos: Cambodian catches world’s largest recorded freshwater fish
In this picture offered by Wonders of the Mekong taken on June 14, 2022, a crew of Cambodian and American scientists and researchers together with Fisheries Administration officers put together to launch an enormous freshwater stingray again into the Mekong River within the northeastern province of Stung Treng, Cambodia. A neighborhood fisherman caught the 661-pound (300-kilogram) stingray, which set the document for the world’s largest recognized freshwater fish and earned him a $600 reward.
A crew of Cambodian and American scientists and researchers together with Fisheries Administration officers measure the size of an enormous freshwater stingray from snout to tail earlier than being launched again into the Mekong River within the northeastern province of Stung Treng, Cambodia.
Cambodian and American scientists and researchers together with Fisheries Administration officers put together to launch an enormous freshwater stingray again into the Mekong River within the northeastern province of Stung Treng, Cambodia.
Village residents watch as Cambodian and American scientists and researchers together with Fisheries Administration officers put together to launch an enormous freshwater stingray again into the Mekong River within the northeastern province of Stung Treng, Cambodia.