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Four meter long freshwater stingray: released into the wild
Photo:
CHHUT CHHEANA / Wonders of the Mekong / AFP
Fishermen have landed a spectacular catch in Cambodia: a freshwater stingray, four meters long and weighing 180 kilos, was caught on the Mekong River.
This is what an international team of experts from the US-funded Miracle of the Mekong project said.
The scientists around project manager Zeb Hogan, fish biologist at the University of Nevada, weighed the fish, measured them and released them back into the wild.
According to the information, the fishermen accidentally managed the spectacular catch last week.
The female ray had apparently swallowed a smaller fish that was hanging on the fisherman's hook.
Huge fish in the Mekong
The freshwater stingray is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world and is endangered due to overfishing, pollution and habitat loss.
According to the experts, even larger specimens could live in the Mekong, which is up to 80 meters deep.
The Mekong is an important habitat for more than a thousand species of fish.
There are other enormous fish lurking in the muddy waters of the river: giant catfish and giant barbel, which can grow to 10 feet long and weigh 500 pounds.
According to project leader Hogan, little is known about the river's underwater ecosystem.
The Mekong and its fauna are threatened by pollution.
According to the experts, underwater recordings showed plastic waste and so-called ghost nets, lost or discarded fishing nets, even in the deepest regions of the river.
Environmentalists have also long warned that building dams on the Mekong could damage fish stocks.
ptz/AFP
