On the evening of June 13, fisherman Moul Thun, 42, caught a giant stingray weighing about 300kg, nearly 4m long, on a remote island in the Stung Treng region on the Mekong River.
A representative of Wonders of the Mekong (Cambodia – US cooperative research project) shared information on June 20.
According to the research team, the previous record for catching a giant freshwater fish belonged to a 293kg Mekong river catfish, discovered in Thailand in 2005.
After the giant creature got caught in the fisherman’s net, Moul Thun informed the staff of Wonders of the Mekong. The team of experts came to check its health condition, measure its size before releasing it back into the wild.
The stingray has been identified as female. The length from the tip of the snout to the tail is 3.98m. The length from one fin end to the other is 2.2m. The team believes the animal is healthy when it returns to its habitat and hopes it will survive.
Zeb Hogan, a fish biologist at the University of Nevada (USA), said this individual “holds the record for the largest freshwater fish in the world” and experts currently “know very little about it”. “.
According to this expert, catching the giant creature not only sets a new record, even “fish that achieve this large weight is a hopeful signal for the Mekong River”, because this waterway “are facing many environmental challenges”.
The expert team said that information about the giant stingray species is quite limited. They have a mouth “the size of a banana”, without teeth, but use “clamps” to crush prey. This species usually hunts on the riverbed, eating shrimp, mollusks and small fish.
It is known that the upper Mekong River is home to catfish as well as some other freshwater fish. This river flows through countries including China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Although it is the “common home” of some giant fish, environmental pressure is increasing. The group of experts also expressed concern about the plans to build large hydroelectric dams in recent years that could disrupt the spawning grounds of many creatures.
“Big fish globally are facing extinction. This is a highly valuable species that takes a long time to spawn and grow. If caught before reaching adulthood, they have no chance to reproduce.
About 70% of the world’s giant freshwater fish are threatened with extinction, including those in the Mekong River,” Hogan said.
This is the 4th giant manta ray recorded in the same area in the past 2 months and is both female. Experts say that this may be a hot breeding area for this species.
Earlier in May 2022, a group of fishermen in Stung Treng province, Cambodia also caught a giant ray, weighing 180kg.
Giant freshwater stingray is classified as a rare fish, the largest in Southeast Asia.
