Scientists say a stingray caught in Cambodia’s Mekong River is the largest freshwater fish ever recorded.
The caught stingray weighed 300 kilograms and was about 4 meters tall.
A tracking device was also attached to the fish that was released back into the water.
There is no international official database of record-sized freshwater fish.
Biologist Zeb Hogan, who leads the environmental protection project called Miracles of the Mekong, said the stingray is the largest freshwater fish they have encountered in their 20-year research.
Saying that he has done research on 6 continents, Hogan argued that seeing this for the first time in the Mekong River in the world is hope for the future of the river.
In 2005, a catfish weighing 293 kilograms was caught in the tributary of the Mekong River, which crosses the Thai border.
The environmental organization headed by Zeb Hogan is informed of such catches through a communication channel established with fishermen.
The record-size stingray was also caught by a local fisherman on the island of Koh Preah on the evening of 13 June.
The stingray and the future of the Mekong
The giant freshwater stingray with a width of 2 meters is among the threatened creatures.
The Mekong River runs through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
Causes such as dams built on it, overfishing and pollution threaten this sensitive ecosystem.
“The finding of fish this size indicates that the river is still relatively healthy,” said Dr. Hogan.