Posted on 06/29/2005 1:40:15 PM PDT by evets
Thai fishermen netted a catfish as big as a grizzly bear, setting a world record for the largest freshwater fish ever found, according to researchers who studied the 646-pound Mekong giant catfish as part of a project to protect large freshwater fish.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Absolutely amazing if true. I'm actually sorry to see that it is dead. I love eating fish, don't get me wrong, but something this old and menacing adds more to the world alive.
500 pounds of hush puppies to go with it, and that's some good eatin'!
I agree.
Why is it that if something is the 'biggest' (Tree, animal etc) we feel good if we kill it or cut it down?
It takes a long time for them to get that big, obviously.
I'd like some onion rings to go with that....
Testosterone!!!!!!!!!!!!! that would be my guess!!!!
You gotta love the caption on that photo:
This Mekong giant catfish was weighed at 646 pounds by researchers working on a project to identify, study and conserve large freshwater fish around the world.
Something fishy going on in Thailand.
Bet they used chicken necks.
Always catch good-sized catfish with chicken necks.
That was the same one that got away from me
Hogan's project includes two-dozen other species, including the giant freshwater stingray, the dog-eating catfish, the dinosaur-like arapaima, and the Chinese paddlefish – "all of which remain contenders for the title of the world’s largest fish," the researchers stated, pending the final results of their work.
"Long shots for the title include caviar-producing sturgeon, goliath Amazon catfish, giant lungfish, razor-toothed gars, massive cods, and Mongolian salmon," they added.
Just a cotton-pickin' minute. I recall from my ancient 1972 Guinness book of world records that the biggest-ever freshwater lunker was a gargantuan half-ton behemoth fished from the St. Lawrence river (back when the St. Lawrence had life in it).
HOOLLLLLLLLLLY smoke!!!!!!!! That is unreal! As a city punk, I never knew about these fish believe it or not, and I like to fish. My father has boat but that`s for fish like fluke or flounder off the Long Island shore, but damn I never seen anything like these catfish before. Someone told me once about the size those things get but I never believed it, then I remember stories like Huckleberry Finn and the catfish. That is truly bizarre, loook at the size of that thing! What the hell they got in the water there?
Watch them stingers.
Hey, if we're gonna have fishermen capture 646-pound catfishes at will, then all 646-pound catfishes will become (virtually) extinct. Time to put them on the protected species list.
Looks like there might be a bit of PhotoShop action going on here. Do the shadows all look like they're in alignment on the photograph? Why was the picture taken with the dock and boat out of view of the cameraman?
~ Blue Jays ~
Probably go that big eating tsunami victims.
Are you kidding, they live that long? I swear, I had no idea about catfish getting that big until a few months ago until someone told me about them and showed me pictures, but that one is completely off the chart! What the hell do they eat? Thast is freaky as all hell. Do they attack people?
Global warming did it.
What kind of dog? Probably whatever leftovers get thrown in the river after supper....
We don't know. No survivors to tell the tale so far.
< cue ominous music >
No, they truly get that big!! Do a search on Google and you`ll find catfish pics that are huge, ones from the Mississippi, all over.
http://images.google.com/images?q=catfish&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&sa=N&tab=wi
oooch, and I thought my dog-eaters reference might be touchy!
I'm sure Justice Souter appreciates the thought.
How do you know it's the biggest out there? It's just the biggest we've caught to date.
The Missouri Conservationist has an article in this month's issue about big fish and how long they live. Sturgeon grow about an inch a year. One that was banded in 1979 was recovered last year and it was 28 inches long. Some species are much slower growing than others.
I have never heard of a man-eating catfish. I think there is a reason for that.
I have heard of a bull shark being netted on the Mississipi River within sight of the Gateway Arch, however.
They found some people who were killed by them? Look at thing, it could easily swallow a person whole.
What type of dogs do you think they feed that fish?
...one's that zigged instead of zagged.
Doogle
Hoowee! Lemme sharpen ma' machete and I'll filet that sucker! I'm gonna need a bigger frying pan!
The photo of Hogzilla comes to mind.
Man, that is incredible. I had no idea they lived so long. I keep telling my father we have to quit with the tiny fishing and go for the big guys, I can`t even imagine the hell they had to go through to land that thing.
Their catfish are bigger than our catfish (MS) ping!
That said, you think I could land that sucker on a fly rod???
Bristlecone Pines (oldest trees) grow on a series of ridges beginning with the White Inyo range in California. Since the "Methuselah" tree (record holder at ~4,500 years) is in the California preserve it apparently stood to reason to one of the Forest Service rocket scientists that he could go to the next ridge in Nevada and cut one down for research without running a core into it to check. The one he cut beat the record holder by about 350 years...
I have pulled 50-60lbs catfish (about 4 foot long; all head) out of cattle tanks smalled than backyard swimming pools.
I typically have put them back --- they taste muddy.
Occassionally, I will keep them alive in very clean fresh water for a while (about a week) to remove the mud taste -- but mainly to put the head on the barbed-wire fence.
Don't ask me why West Texans put catfish heads on our fences, though. It's just something we do.
I love catfish! YUMMY! :D
Woo-Hoo!! I'll bring the beer!!
Bet they don't taste as good. ;o)
Those things are freaking awesome; saw a documentary on "extreme fishing" where these guys went fly fishing for them. While they were out there beating the water, a couple of Mongolian guys rode up, then started pointing and laughing at them. They rode off..few minutes later they heard a gunshot. Then the mongolian guys showed up again with a dead headless prairie dog on a gigantic hook tied to line wrapped around a tin can. They tossed the prairie dog in and caught one of the gigantic trout (I forget what the mongolian name is) a few minutes later.
Yeah, those things troll for food on the ground right? I can just imagine the crap they eat, they look like the sucker fish I put in my aquarium to keep the tank clean.
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