Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
A massive 8-foot by 14-foot, 700 to 800-pound pregnant stingray caught in Thailand by nature conservationist and TV show host Jeff Corwin last week might be the largest freshwater fish of all time, according to various media reports.
The ray was caught and released in the Mae Klong River in Thailand’s Amphawa District, about one hour outside of Bangkok, National Geographic reported on Wednesday. Nantarika Chansue, a veterinarian and professor at Chulalongkorn University, assisted Corwin with the catch.
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Chansue referred to the creature, officially known as Himantura polylepis, as “the big one,” but Zeb Hogan, a National Geographic fellow and professor of biology at the University of Nevada-Reno, explained that the team was unable to get an exact weight for fear of injuring the ray.
All they know is that it was really, really big
“It’s really hard to weigh these things without hurting them, because they are such big, awkward animals,” said Hogan, who had actually caught and tagged the same stingray back in 2009, when it was slightly smaller. “Certainly [this] was a huge fish, even compared to other giant freshwater stingrays, and definitely ranks among the largest freshwater fish in the world.”
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Six years ago, the ray was 6.5 feet across and 15 feet long, the website said, and Chansue thinks that its tail may have been shortened in some type of accident. A portable ultrasound revealed that it was pregnant with a pair of fetal rays. Since it was also pregnant when caught in 2009, it indicates that the area where it was found is most likely a nursing ground, Hogan said.
Corwin, who was on location filming an episode of his TV show Ocean Mysteries, told USA Today that catching the stingray “was an incredible moment of adventure and science. Multiple people were on the rod and reel trying to pull this monster in” – a process that he noted took two hours, but may have netted them a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.
New world record?
The current Guinness record for a freshwater fish, Nat Geo said, is the Mekong giant catfish, which also lives in Thailand and can weigh up to 660 pounds. (What’s up with the fish in Thailand?) Guinness World Records North America spokesman Anthony Yodice told the website that his organization would not address whether or not this was a new record until Corwin’s team submitted an official application.
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The Himantura polylepis has the longest spine of any species of ray (it can reach sizes of up to 15 inches). The spine carries a powerful toxin and is used for defense, and while a stingray sting can be lethal, Nat Geo noted that injuries to humans are rare. It is unclear how long the average ray can live, but Chansue believes that this one is between 35 and 40 years old.
Freshwater stingrays are also listed as an endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUC), and that it due in part to Hogan and Chansue’s efforts. They are “decreasing rapidly since there is no national law to protect them,” said Chansue, and while they aren’t subject to much commercial fishing, they face threats from pollution and oil spills.
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