This is one enormous fish. Image Credit: Facebook / Wonders of the Mekong
The gargantuan stingray - which was caught in the Mekong river - has set a new world record.
Measuring a whopping 13ft from tail to snout and weighing in at 300kg (nearly a third of a ton), this absolutely massive fish was caught by local fishermen to the south of Stung Treng.
Footage recorded of the catch shows the enormous creature - which resembles a huge grey disc - being viewed by a crowd of locals who had gathered to witness the spectacle for themselves.
The animal was kept alive on a semi-submerged tarp at the edge of the river while it was carefully weighed and measured before being released once the process was complete.
It was also tagged with an electronic tracking device so that scientists can keep an eye on it.
"When you see a fish this size, especially in freshwater, it is hard to comprehend, so I think all of our team was stunned," said Zeb Hogan, leader of Wonders of the Mekong.
Locals have nicknamed the stingray "Boramy", meaning "full moon".
The report is not about the largest freshwater fish in the world, it's about the biggest one caught and recorded. ""In 20 years of researching giant fish in rivers and lakes on six continents, this is the largest freshwater fish that we've encountered or that's been documented anywhere worldwide," said Zeb Hogan, a biologist who leads Wonders of the Mekong, a USAID-funded conservation project."
When you see a big freshwater fish like that, no wonder we have aquatic monsters folklores. Rays are quite shy and can be observed rarely. Sturgeon are known to jump so sighting is more spectacular and less sinister than a monster creeping only in the deep.
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