Cambodian villagers on the Mekong River have caught what researchers say is the world’s biggest freshwater fish ever recorded – a stingray that weighed in at 300kg and took around a dozen men to haul to shore.
Christened Boramy – meaning “full moon” in the Khmer language – because of her bulbous shape, the four-metre long female was released back into the river after being electronically tagged to allow scientists to monitor her movement and behaviour.
This stingray weighs 661 pounds and might be the largest freshwater fish ever recorded https://t.co/GQyOgnOxAG pic.twitter.com/wiKpJ995EL
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 21, 2022
“This is very exciting news because it was the world’s largest fish,” said biologist Zeb Hogan, ex-host of the Monster Fish show on the National Geographic Channel and now part of a conservation project on the river.
“It is also exciting news because it means that this stretch of the Mekong is still healthy.... It is a sign of hope that these huge fish still live (here),” said Hogan, a fish biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a National Geographic Explorer.
Boramy, netted off Koh Preah, an island along the northern Cambodian stretch of the river, took the record from a 293kg giant catfish that was caught upstream in northern Thailand in 2005.
The Mekong has the third-most diverse fish population in the world, according to its River Commission, though overfishing, pollution, saltwater intrusion and sediment depletion have caused stocks to plummet.
For Hogan, the stretch of the Mekong River where the ray was found is not only a potential hot spot for giant stingrays but also a source of hope for all threatened megafish species. For despite the dire situation for many of the world’s river giants, Hogan says, there remain reasons to be optimistic.