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Grizzly-sized Catfish Caught in Thailand
An anonymous reader writes "Fishermen in northern Thailand have netted a fish as big as a grizzly bear, a 646-pound Mekong giant catfish, the heaviest recorded since Thai officials started keeping records in 1981. The behemoth was caught in the Mekong River and may be the largest freshwater fish ever found."
I live in Tennessee. Where I live it's a locally known phenomenon that some catfish caught (one every few years) are shockingly large. (I assume this was normal everywhere?)
I remember reading in local papers at least a few times in the past 15 years or so that one of exceptionally impressive size had been caught. Now, the funny thing is I have actually seen photos, polaroids even, of these fish since I was a child and never thought twice about it. What I always thought was "Some catfish get really big, some get insanely big." The largest photo I saw was of a huge, fat, disgusting catfish that really DID fill the bed of a small truck. (Think 80's/90's S10 pickup).
The largest catfish I've ever seen personally (not counting photos) was not quite that big. It was only about 3-4 feet long (almost as tall as my little brother at the time. I have pictures somewhere...)
I never even stopped to think that the fish wasn't just big, but actually an endangered variety of fish.
As I do some reading on the internet about Giant Catfish in this area I find very little, or at least nothing "Official". So that makes me wonder if it isn't the case that people around here are just "used to it" and the word doesn't really spread to those who might be interested in exactly this sort of thing?
Maybe these creatures are more common than one might think? Still, I would have to assume they are endagered.
I do know there is/was an 80 lb catfish on display at the Tennessee Aquarium. Though that really isn't in the same league as most giant catfish.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
even Mark Twain claims to have seen one more than six feet long and weighing 250 pounds in the Mississippi River. (How he managed to weigh it is not recorded ^_-).
If you're really skeptical, visit the natural history museum at the University of Kansas to see skeletons and pictures of catfish taken (by hand by divers) in the Kansas River just a hundred years ago.
Chainarong Sretthachau, director of the conservation group Southeast Asia Rivers Network in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said threats to the giant catfish include commercial fishing, their touting to tourists as a food said to impart wisdom, and dynamite blasting of their spawning ground.
What the hell? I thought that was a joke in cartoons. People actually fish en masse like that? Does it even work?
So Biology\Zoology is not considered science, and therefore isn't for nerds?
Keeping and appreciating animals can be quite a geeky trait, aquarists included. Fishkeeping is a hobby that I'm starting to get into and the more I learn, the more I see geek potential.
Take for example, keeping a tank. Monitoring the nitrogen cycle by examining levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate is necessary for a healthy aquarium. You even get to break out the test-tubes and droppers like you're Gil Grissom!
Catfish, like the one in the article (albeit smaller, of course) are a popular choice for community aquariums because they are interesting animals that add variety. A lot of attention is given to ancestry - new and rare breeds can be very expensive indeed and each new type is meticulously labelled. I bet there are hundreds of Slashdotters reading this article and thinking to themselves 'I need a bigger tank', and are thinking of a place in the house to situate a 100,000 gallon bowfront...
Once you buy a fish tank, you never go back. Multiple Tank Syndrome (MTS) is an industry-recognised condition that's uttered with both humour and sincerity. Setting up your own ecosystem - choosing plants, substrate and decorations, as well as the fish - is like case modding, only it actually looks good.
Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
Unfortunately, in the more unregulated fishing areas in the World, explosive, and cyanide fishing is still popular.
The premise behind explosive fishing is to lob down a couple of sticks of your favourite explosive, and then wait for the stunned fish to float to the surface before scooping them into your boat. Unfortunately, it is extremely indiscriminate, can damage the remaining fish, and can cause extensive underwater damage to the seafloor.
Cyanide fishing is just as bad, where divers puff a small amount of cyanide into the water to stun fish before collection. This keeps the fish live, and results in no external physical damage. On a broader scale, mass poison release for wider area fishing is less effective, but just as dangerous to sealife. The other problem is that fish collect toxins in their bodies which then get passed through the food chain, to us.
If you wondered how they got the live fish into the tank at some Asian restaurants, it could very well be the result of cyanide fishing, especially if they are claiming them to be wild fish.InfoSec that matters, when it counts.