June 20 (Reuters) – Cambodian villagers on the Mekong River have caught what researchers say is the world’s largest freshwater fish ever recorded, a stingray that weighed in at 300kg (661 lb) and took round a dozen males to haul to shore.
Christened Boramy – that means “full moon” within the Khmer language – due to her bulbous form, the four-metre (13-foot) lengthy feminine was launched again into the river after being electronically tagged to permit scientists to observe her motion and behavior.
“That is very thrilling information as a result of it was the world’s largest fish,” mentioned biologist Zeb Hogan, ex-host of the “Monster Fish” present on the Nationwide Geographic Channel and now a part of a conservation mission on the river.
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The world’s largest freshwater fish, a large stingray, that weighs 661 kilos (300 kilograms) is pictured with Worldwide scientists, Cambodian fisheries officers and villagers at Koh Preah island within the Mekong River south of Stung Treng province, Cambodia June 14, 2022. Image taken with a drone on June 14, 2022. Chhut Chheana/Surprise of Mekong/Handout through REUTERS
“It is usually thrilling information as a result of it implies that this stretch of the Mekong continues to be wholesome…. It’s a signal of hope that these large fish nonetheless reside (right here).”
Boramy, netted final week off Koh Preah, an island alongside the northern Cambodian stretch of the river, took the file from a 293 kg large catfish that was caught upstream in northern Thailand in 2005.
The Mekong has the third-most numerous fish inhabitants on the planet, in response to its River Fee, although overfishing, air pollution, saltwater intrusion and sediment depletion have induced shares to plummet.
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Reporting by Kwang Jiraporn Kuhakan; Enhancing by Kanupriya Kapoor and John Stonestreet
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