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21 June 2022.
Introduction:
Scientists have caught the world’s largest recorded freshwater fish, named giant stingray, in the Mekong River of Cambodia.
Highlights:
- The stingray was captured on June 13, 2022.
- It measured almost four metres from snout to tail while weighed under 300kg.
- Giant Stingray was captured under “Wonders of the Mekong” project, which is a joint Cambodian-US research project.
- The earlier record for a freshwater fish was a 293kg Mekong giant catfish. It was discovered in 2005, in Thailand.
The giant freshwater stingray
- It is a species of stingray, belonging to Dasyatidae family.
- It is found in large rivers and estuaries of Borneo and Southeast Asia.
- Historically, it has been more widely distributed in South and Southeast Asia.
- It is the largest freshwater fish as well as the largest stingray worldwide.
- The species grows upwards of 2.2 m across and can reach up to 300 kg in weight.
- It has a relatively thin, oval pectoral fin disc and a sharply pointed snout, along with a protruding tip. Tail of giant freshwater stingray is thin and whip-like.
- It uniformly greyish brown above and white below.
About Stingrays
Stingrays are a group of sea rays. They are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. These species are classified in suborder Myliobatoidei of Myliobatiformes order. It comprises of eight families namely,
- Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray)
- Plesiobatidae (deepwater stingray)
- Urolophidae (stingarees)
- Urotrygonidae (round rays)
- Dasyatidae (whiptail stingrays)
- Potamotrygonidae (river stingrays)
- Gymnuridae (butterfly rays) and
- Myliobatidae (eagle rays)
About Mekong River
- The Mekong River is a trans-boundary river, flowing in East Asia and Southeast Asia.
- It is the twelfth longest river in world and third longest in Asia. Originating in the Tibetan Plateau, it runs across China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.