Hogan says cave paintings of the fish in northeast Thailand show it has captured the imagination of people living along the Mekong for more than a thousand years. There's long tradition of giant catfish fishing in Thailand and Laos. "Chicken sacrifices are performed aboard the fishing boats," Kritsanavarin said. Mekong giant catfish are caught in Chiang Khong district in April and May when they run upstream to their spawning grounds.įishermen hold an annual ceremony at the start of the fishing season when they ask a river god for permission to catch the fish. Unfortunately, the fish didn't survive its ordeal. Thai fisheries officials had hoped to release the adult female after stripping it of eggs for a captive-breeding program. Kritsanavarin says only four other Mekong giant catfish were landed this year. "I may never see anything like it again in my lifetime," he said. Photographer Suthep Kritsanavarin witnessed the record catch on the Thai side of the Mekong, across the water from Laos. "In many locations they are now so rare that the opportunity for documentation and study may soon be lost," he said. Hogan says such big species are poorly studied and in urgent need of protection. Other contenders for the title of world's largest freshwater fish include the Chinese paddlefish and dog-eating catfish-another Mekong giant. "I have heard of three-meter-plus catfish in Bulgaria, 500-kilogram stingrays in Southeast Asia, and five-meter arapaima in the Amazon, but up until now we have not been able to confirm these reports." "We believe this catfish is the current record-holder-an astonishing find," Hogan added. "It's amazing to think that giants like this still swim in some of the world's rivers," said project leader Zeb Hogan, a National Geographic Society emerging explorer and a WWF conservation science fellow. The giant catfish is currently the focus of a World Wildlife Fund and National Geographic Society project to identify and study the planet's biggest freshwater fish-those that grow to 220 pounds (100 kilograms) in weight or more than 6.5 feet (two meters) in length. The rare specimen, captured in Chiang Khong district, is the largest since Thailand began keeping records in 1981. The Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) species is listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), which means it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. It tipped the scales at 646 pounds (293 kilograms).ĭespite efforts to keep the Mekong giant catfish alive, it died and was later eaten by villagers. Nearly nine feet long (2.7 meters) and as big as a grizzly bear, a huge catfish caught in northern Thailand may be the largest freshwater fish ever recorded.Ĭaught last month (May 1) in the Mekong River, a team of fishermen struggled for more than an hour to haul the creature in.
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