Slashdot Mirror
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 feel so bad for his grandkids
time is a perception of a being's consciousness
time is your 6th sense, the wierd ones are 7+
As a long time hunter of the Sturgeon I would have to say that this is recorded and the ones that get away are much bigger.
No really it was! Somebodies grand kids are never going to here the end of this!
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
and a fish.
I don't suppose we could feed it Darl McBride?
Don't let THEM immanentize the Eschaton!
One down, not many left to go:
5 15_030515_giantcatfish.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0
Still who cares about extinction, if you can get a nice photo out of it?
I for one welcome our new grizlly-catfish overlords.
"The fish was caught and eaten in a remote village in Thailand along the Mekong River, home to more species of giant fish than any other river.
Local environmentalists and government officials negotiated to release the record-breaking animal[...]
But the fish, an adult male, later died. "
Being eaten does that you.
(Please browse at -1 to read this comment.)
Here is an article on these fish. Sadly they sound like they are on the way out -- humans have disrupted their environment to the point that the populations are isolated and can't move around freely enough.
Here is a photo of a giant stingray from the same area.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
Thought you all would enjoy this. Full resolution AP photo of the catfish. http://ftp2.nationalgeographic.com/pressroom/GIANT %20CATFISH/GiantCatfish.jpg
"Thai fisheries officials had hoped to release this adult male Mekong giant catfish after they stripped it of milt for a captive-breeding program. But the whopping fish, which was as big a grizzly bear, didn't survive." http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/ph otogalleries/giantcatfish/photo3.html
it appears that killing the largest and oldest fish has a disproportionate effect on the population as the big ones tend to be the most prolific breeders.
The Mekong giant catfish would be an awful lot better off if this particular great-great-granddaddy/grandmommy had stayed in the water.
http://www.carpecarpio.com/exoticfishpictures.html
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
I was researching this just yesterday so I'm not surprised to see it here. That fish is a whole heckuvva lot larger than the catfish I used to catch and eat as a kid.
/My affiliate link), Chapter 10, 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 ^_-). But cryptozoologists still try to hunt them down, even this summer as reported here. Chester Moore, the organizer of the event, claims that preservation is their goal as well as discovery. This is the biggest North American expedition to research cryptid catfish I've heard of, so it will be interesting to see if they get lucky. They'll need to discover the fish first, though, before talking about preservation. ::)
There are some great photos here at National Geographic's Article on the fish. My favorite photo is the one with an elderly gent cutting a steak larger than his torso. Dang! At that size I wonder if they taste any good?
Of course, Giant Catfish are the stuff of legends, and usually have a kernal of truth. (Links to other whoppers there as well)
Usually tales of the "big one that got away" or, in this case, "Catfish the size of Volkswagon Bugs" are dismissed, but according to Loren Coleman's "Mysterious America" (March 2004 ed.
Preservation of giant catfish is part of the WWF's mission, too, in Thailand & Cambodia. Just this month four giant catfish bred in captivity were released into the Mekong. So Giant Catfish are real in the Amazon, Europe, Asia, etc., but cryptozoological here in the States. Would be cool if they weren't, though.
This psuedoreport brought to you by Insomnia(TM)
The Splintered Mind - Overcoming
"Thai fisheries officials had hoped to release this adult male Mekong giant catfish after they stripped it of milt for a captive-breeding program. But the whopping fish, which was as big a grizzly bear, didn't survive." http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/ph otogalleries/giantcatfish/photo3.html
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.
Why is this even on Slashdot? I dont have time for this. I have bigger fish to fry.
This is not an automated signature. I type this in to the bottom of every message.
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?
Its easy for those of us who live in the Western world, where food comes from the supermarket, to say "Hey, thats mildly amusing and useful in no practical way -- why not throw it back?" Would you say the same if it required that *your* kids not have dinner that night?
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
Well the alternative is to rip out its insides and stuff the thing. Now you tell me which is the bigger waste.
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?
... and you've fed him for a day, and another day, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and ...
Teach a man to fish, and [insert your own punchline here]
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.
125lb (57kg) Catfish caught in Mississippi in Iowa: http://www.santeecoopercats.net/records-il.html
Obviously, this doesn't come close to 650lbs like the one from the Mekong. But it does come close to the one you linked.
Personally, I could care less who has the biggest fish. I'm just sick of people looking for every possible opportunity to rant about how dumb and ridiculous they think Americans are.
You do realize catfish are one of the most eaten fish in the world?
that said, this thing is NOT for eating (though they did eat it). Big freshwater fish like that a usually full of worms and are disgusting. We have lots of 50 lb. cats where I live, but no one would think of eating one.
Possibilities: The fish ATE a bear. Overfishing caused the growth (build a better mousetrap, nature makes a better mouse. Build a better fishing net.....) Fish are having obisity problems too.
All misspellings and grammatical errors in the above post are intentional and part of my artistic expression.
Here's hoping those organisms that don't "fit with our way of life" don't eventually include our own species. Natural selection includes you and me, too, however "slightly different" you think we may be. And mass extinctions don't tend to leave the same species at the top of the pyramid, unless you're counting prokaryotic cells or something.
Environmentalism is enlightened self-interest, not some tree-hugging, static-world conceit about spotted owls and condors being awfully kewl.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
J.
You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
When the owls were endangered, I didn't speak up because owls are not tasty.
When the gorillas were endangered, I didn't speak up, because gorillas are not tasty.
When the condors were endangered, I didn't speak up, because condors are not tasty.
When cows were endangered, I was pissed!!!!.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
You just haven't had catfish prepared correctly. Sit back, kids, as I share with you an age-old family recipe, handed down to me by my great grandpappy, on how to cook the perfect catfish.
The first rule is, you use nothing but natural, untreated, chemical free hickory. You build up a nice big roaring fire with the hickory and let it burn down until all that's left is red hot smoldering coals.
While the fire is burning down, gut the fish, leaving the skin and bones in, and pack it in ice to keep it nice and fresh. Once the fire is ready, take a fresh cut hickory plank, and nail the catfish to it, with a single nail between the eyes. Wrap the fish and board up in aluminum foil, and bury it down in the smoldering embers.
Allow the fish to cook down in the embers for at least an hour, letting the meat get so tender it begins to fall into pieces. Unwrap the foil, pull out the nail, dump the fish in the river, and eat the board. There you go, the best catfish you'll ever have!