Mekong Giant Catfish

I was surfing the net and i found this Giant Mekong Catfish its huge check it out.









[edit: fixed image link]

[edit on 8/30/2006 by 12m8keall2c]

On the same site there is also a Giant Freshwater Stingray in the same river and the site also say that alot of giant species of fish are fouind in this river. I was wondering why everything in this river is so big. If you know please replie.
Thank You


www.wwf.org.uk...

Ahhh, Giant Catfish.

You can find one of my favorite pictures here:
z.about.com...

wow, aparently giant catfish are a species in that river.

Giant catfish are real. There are huge ones in Asia like shown in that picture, but also in the southern US they make a sport out of catching them with their bare hands. You wade out into the water and feel around sticking your hand into holes, hoping a giant catfish will bite your hand, and then you pull it out. It's called "Noodling". Many people have gone to a watery grave catching a catfish too big for them to handle and being pulled under.

Originally posted by Yarcofin
Giant catfish are real. There are huge ones in Asia like shown in that picture, but also in the southern US they make a sport out of catching them with their bare hands. You wade out into the water and feel around sticking your hand into holes, hoping a giant catfish will bite your hand, and then you pull it out. It's called "Noodling". Many people have gone to a watery grave catching a catfish too big for them to handle and being pulled under.

I have not heard of any deaths due to noodling, but hey what a way to go..LOL. Besides catfish in the US don't get as big as those cats in the photos.

Not 600 lbs but the US variety must get to at least 300. Google image "Noodling" and look at some of the catfish in the pics that come up. Some are bigger than the guys holding them.

I love those creatures, they is something very mysterious about them. If you like giant catfish, you should see the movie Big Fish (by tim burton), fantastic story.

I was wondering why everything in this river is so big. If you know please replie.

About that i'm not sure at all, but what I do know is, if you give animals (and especcialy fish) a small place to live, they will stay smaller, but as their living enviroment grows, so do they

Maybe this is a very big,deep and broad river?

That is an amazing picture!

Isn't that the area the Veitnam war was fought?

Do you think they will eat that fish?

we used to catch catfish over 300 pounds in west VA

I remember when i was younger, my dad, his friends and I went fishing in a channel, and my one of the guys caught a 65 pounder! I was amazed, but compared to this, well...You get the picture...

-Jimmy-

Originally posted by MagicaRose
That is an amazing picture!

Isn't that the area the Veitnam war was fought?

Do you think they will eat that fish?

Yes if you read the writing about the Mekong Catfish below the picture it says that the village will eat the fish u need alot of vinagar and tarter sauce for that puppy lol.

Man listen!! Do you know how much breakfast can be had with just that one fish. Catfish and grits is a staple of my diet when I am in the south. Too bad that I live in the north where there aren't too many places who cook catfish. That thing is monstrous though!!!

Well, large catfish obviously exist. Why wouldn't they? But, I wouldn't be so sure if it's a catfish. According to the picture, there are many "un-catfish-like" traits about it. It's probably just what I'm seeing. But how it would become such a size, I can explain it a way or two. First off, hybrids. I'm not exactly how sure a catfish becomes that size however. But, scientists experimented with certain horomones which made catfish (that were tested) stronger, dumber, and larger. I doubt something as the reason I am about to suggest would occur due to the late advances in technology and architecture (etcetera), but maybe a leak? Just a guess. However, the rays are probably just Manta Rays. Those things can get bigger than Great Whites! Happy if I could help at all!

Yeah, I'm not sure where these are shot at but I found some pictures too.
www.smijer.com...
gonbi.com...
media.graytvinc.com...

Or if you want some more, you can just look up Big Catfish on google. I'm gonna look up some origins. I'll post back if I find anything.

That pic is actually from a june 29th 2005 msnbc article and wyrdeone posted about it. 646lbs of catfish. Dunno if wwf swiped it from msnbc or vice versa.

When it was new

Heres the link to msnbc from the OP on that thread

msnbc linky

From the end of that article

The Mekong River Basin is home to more species of massive fish than any river on Earth

Which makes ya wonder is it a chemical company dumpin crap into that river making stuff grow huge or is it just the way its always been.

I've personally fed breakfast scraps to a sturgeon that was several feet longer than a 14 foot aluminum ( Br. aluminium) boat. If sturgeon get that big, I'd be very surprised that catfish can't get bigger.

And that sturgeon was in the French River...wa-a-a-ay up north in Canada where the only chemicals in the water was cyanide in minute quantities.

i live in the US but i know that in the UK there is a hhugge species of catfish known as Wells Catfish. they get in the 500-600s i believe. plus i think they are sort of eel-like

They should breed these fish and then few would go hungry. Those things would feed a whole village and then some. I wonder what it tastes like? Rubber?

Originally posted by MukaMuka
I was wondering why everything in this river is so big. If you know please reply.

There are lots of big things in this river because the river itself is pretty big; over 4,000km long and the world's tenth largest in terms of the amount of water it discharges into the sea.

Here's a map.

The Mekong is the main drainage channel for Southeast Asia. It rises north of Tibet and flows through three gigantic Chinese provinces, then on through Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam before reaching the sea.

Along much of its length, the Mekong flows through sparsely inhabited wilderness, so fish may be left alone to grow to their full size. You'd probably have catfish this big in the Mississippi too, if the banks of the Mississippi weren't so thickly populated.

Another famous place for big riverine fauna is Borneo, the second-largest island in the world at 3,892,685 sq. km. Most of Borneo is uninhabited forest, which helps.