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A large stingray caught within the Mekong River in Cambodia is the world’s largest recorded freshwater fish, scientists have mentioned.
The stingray, which measured nearly 4 metres (13ft) from snout to tail and weighed slightly below 300kg (661lb), was captured on 13 June, in line with a press release by Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-US analysis mission.
It was caught by a neighborhood fisherman south of Stung Treng within the northeast of the nation and nicknamed “Boramy”, or “full moon”, by locals due to its spherical form.
The fisherman alerted a close-by crew of scientists from Wonders of the Mekong.
The earlier document for a freshwater fish was a 293kg (646lb) Mekong big catfish, found in Thailand in 2005, the group mentioned.
“Once you see a fish this dimension, particularly in freshwater, it’s onerous to grasp, so I feel all of our crew was surprised,” Wonders of the Mekong chief Zeb Hogan mentioned.
Mr Hogan added that the actual fact fish can nonetheless get this huge is a “hopeful signal for the Mekong River”, regardless of environmental challenges.
The crew inserted a tagging machine close to the tail of the fish that may ship monitoring info for the following yr, offering information on big stingray behaviour in Cambodia.
In honour of getting caught the record-breaker, the fortunate fisherman was compensated at market fee, that means he acquired a cost of about $600.
The Mekong River runs by China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
It’s house to a number of species of big freshwater fish however environmental pressures are rising with explicit concern from scientists round a serious programme of dam constructing lately which may be severely disrupting spawning grounds.
Freshwater fish are outlined as people who spend their total lives in freshwater, versus big marine species reminiscent of bluefin tuna and marlin, or fish that migrate between recent and saltwater like the massive beluga sturgeon.
Researchers say it is the fourth big stingray reported in the identical space up to now two months, all of them females.
They suppose this can be a spawning hotspot for the species.
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