Nine foot Giant pangasius catfish caught
Photo Copyright Suthep KRITSANAVARIN
One of the largest ever recorded Giant catfishes has been caught by fishermen in Thailand.The Giant Mekong catfish, Pangasius (Pangasianodon) gigas, weighed in at 646 lbs/293 kg - that's about the same weight as five St Bernard dogs, or 7.69 Kylie Minogues - and measured just under nine feet in length.
Zeb Hogan, who is involved in a World Wildlife Fund and National Geographic Society project looking at some of the world's largest freshwater fish species said: "We've now confirmed now that this catfish is the current record holder, an astonishing find.
"It's amazing to think that giants like this still swim in some of the world's rivers.
I'm thrilled that we've set a new record, but we need to put this discovery in context: these giant fish are uniformly poorly studied and some are critically endangered."
"My study of giant freshwater fish is showing a clear and global pattern: the largest fish species are disappearing. The challenge is clear - we must find methods to protect these species and their habitats. By acting now, we can save animals like the Mekong giant catfish from extinction."
The captors attempted to release the giant catfish, which is an adult male, so it could continue its spawning migration upriver towards the Golden Triangle - the border of Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and China, but unfortunately the fish died. It was later cooked and eaten by the fishermen.
Prior to its death it was stripped of its milt (sperm) so it gametes can be used in a captive breeding programme.
According to the Guiness Book of World Records, P. gigas, is the largest known freshwater fish species.
A number of related species do sometimes appear in the aquarium trade, but none of them make sensible additions to the aquarium.
We would strongly advise avoiding Pangasius sanitwongsei and P. hypophthalmus (formerly sutchi) should you see them for sale, as they can reach around 2m/6'6" and 120cm/4' respectively.
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Matt Clarke: Wed June 29, 2005, 9:22 pmMatt Clarke: 29.6.2006
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Date: Wednesday August 15th, 2007, 12:27 pm
"I caught one of my local shops (not one I use, I'm glad to say) selling a tankload of Pangasius and when I told the shop owner how irresponsible and cruel it was to pass them off as hobby fish (and explained why) he just sneered at me. Is there no local or national body I can report them to or some web-wide blacklist of unethical shops to post them on to discourage people from supporting them?"
Posted by: Clare Challis - 2 years, 3 months agoDate: Wednesday August 15th, 2007, 12:27 pm
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 | Editor-in-Chief, Matt Clarke, writes the regular Interesting Imports column on rare and unusual fish in the UK aquarium trade. He's kept fish for 30 years and holds a degree, two higher degrees and two diplomas in fish biology, taxonomy and computational biology. |
| More articles by Matt Clarke » | |
"An amazing fish. Unbelievable size. Rare and endangered. What do we do when we see such marvels? Drag them out of the water and kill them usually. What a world we live in..."
Posted by: Ste Howsam - 3 years agoDate: Sunday October 29th, 2006, 12:36 pm