Her discovery also points to improving relations between fishermen and conservationists. This species once formed the basis of a communal fishery across the border in Laos that no longer exists because the fishs migratory path was blocked in 2020 by the new Don Sahong Dam near the Lao-Cambodia border. Deep pools reaching down 260 feet serve as refuges for some of the worlds largest and most endangered freshwater fish species. [1] Measuring up to 62cm (24in) across, this ray has an oval pectoral fin disc, a tail with both upper and lower fin folds, and a midline row of spine-like dermal denticles. A 400-pound fish's release shows how some conservation efforts in Cambodia are paying off. The National Geographic Society, committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world, funded explorer Zeb Hogans work. This became clear during several days of Mekong exploration, as Katija and her team deployed a remotely operated vehicle along the river bottom. For Hogan, who has seen the nearby Don Sahong Dam in Laos wipe out the fisheries there, the proposed dam in Cambodia would wreak havoc on the rivers sensitive ecology. Dead convicts and a peculiar murder in the Philippines, Japanese Manga are being eclipsed by Korean webtoons. It took a dozen men to load Boramy, a giant stingray, onto the scales. Witte exhibit catches a monster fish in Texas rivers . The upper surface of the disc and tail are plain brown, with the tail folds much darker. At just under 300kg, she is the biggest freshwater fish ever weighed. Giant freshwater stingrays are the largest freshwater fish in the world. Villagers along the river are also paid modestly to maintain the acoustic receivers that pick up signals from the groups tags. Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. The current record-holder for the largest fish in the Mekong River which flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam is a 646-pound (293 kg) Mekong giant catfish (. The situation is made worse by dam operators upstream regulating water flow for their own needs. There are 2838 upper tooth rows and 3341 lower tooth rows; the teeth of juveniles and females are blunt, while those of adult males are pointed with a central keel. While they were videoing the deep river habitat, the scientists saw widespread evidence of plastic pollution, even in conservation areas, as well as ghost nets, nets that have been abandoned by fishers but can still snare fish. She measured a remarkable 3.98m in length (tail included) and 2.2m in width. Give this article 90 A giant. - AKP . This tagging marks the first use of acoustic technology to study this species, and has the potential to shed light on mysteries of . Informations sur votre appareil et sur votre connexion Internet, y compris votre adresseIP, Navigation et recherche lors de lutilisation des sites Web et applications Yahoo. Unlike most fish species, they breathe through holes on top of their bodies which are called spiracles. Rivers and lakes are the most degraded ecosystems in the world. The Mekong freshwater stingray preys on invertebrates and is aplacental viviparous. In recent years, dry conditions, driven by the naturally occurring El Nio weather phenomenon but exacerbated by the warming climate, have caused seasonal water levels in the Mekong to fall to historically low levels. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitask, Indonesias campaign against Islamists is a ploy to silence critics, What a giant stingray says about the Mekong, An earthquake kills hundreds in Afghanistan, Central Asian governments fret over shrinking remittances from Russia. He says declining freshwater fish populations in the region are troubling. Can we save them? But they are suffering. In the week prior to the ray capture, Hogan, who is also a National Geographic Explorer, led a scientific expedition to the area. But its remoteness makes it a difficult area to study, and especially challenging is finding out what goes on at the very bottom of the river. The Mekong River, which starts in the Tibetan highlands and runs through six countries on its way to the South China Sea, is recognised as a global biodiversity hotspot, with close to 1,000 species of fish found throughout its system. in his 1968 list of Mekong River fishes from Laos. Our Price $5,500. Vous pouvez modifier vos choix tout moment en consultant vos paramtres de vie prive. It is one of the deepest parts of the Mekong, and . Instead he called Wonders of the Mekong, a local conservation group, which paid him some $600 to keep Boramy alive so that she could be tagged and released. Dams alter the amount and quality of water and nutrients in the river. At the capture site, a large group of villagers congregated around the ray, which was kept wet as it was briefly moved out of the water onto a tarp so that it could be measured and weighed. When you grow up, you should protect it.. The ray was an unintentional catch by commercial fishermen who were soaking bait in a 260-foot-deep river pool. 2022 Giant Reign E+ 3 S (High) EVERY TRAIL, EVERY STEEP CLIMB, EVERY THRILLING DESCENT. International Union for Conservation of Nature, 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-2.RLTS.T39407A124411226.en, "Molecular phylogeny of Asian freshwater and marine stingrays based on the DNA nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of the cytochrome b gene", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mekong_freshwater_stingray&oldid=1080272089, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 31 March 2022, at 07:47. Nous, Yahoo, faisons partie de la famille de marques Yahoo. Following the catch, a team of visiting scientists from the Wonders of the Mekong project worked with the fishermen to unhook the ray before weighing and measuring it. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) What is the legacy of BTS, the worlds biggest boyband? She was the fourth giant stingray recorded in the area in the past few months. Both dorsal and ventral fin folds are found behind the spine, with the ventral fold 2.53 times longer than the upper fold. [3], An exclusive inhabitant of large, freshwater rivers, the Mekong freshwater stingray has only been recorded from sandy habitats in the Mekong River along the Laos-Thailand border, and in the Chao Phraya River near Chai Nat in central Thailand. European rivers are littered with barricades, but a movement grows to remove them, Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic Society. On June 13, his team found it a giant freshwater stingray, or Urogymnus polylepis. While this one was large, reports indicate they can grow up to 1,300 pounds, though accounts of fish that large have not been verified. Cars For Sale; Blog; Quick Search; Affordable Cars; Cars less than $1,000; Cars less than $2,000; Cars less than $3,000; Cars less than $4,000; It has been assessed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as it is threatened by overfishing and habitat degradation . As explained by the South China Morning Post: "A rarely-seen freshwater stingray weighing 181kg (400 pounds) was hooked by fishermen in the Mekong River on May 5, 2022. The stingray was accidentally caught by fishermen in an 80-metre (260 ft) deep pool in the Mekong in Cambodia's northeastern Stung Treng province and the visiting scientists helped return the. 58 were here. A local commune chief in northern Cambodia explains to a young boy about the need to protect the giant freshwater stingray, which is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, before it is released back into the Mekong River. In this stretch of river, about 100 miles long, up to 200 billion fish are spawned every year, helping to make the 2,700-mile-long Mekong one of the most fish-rich rivers on the planet. Photo: YouTube/South China Morning . Although the giant freshwater stingray (Urogymnus polylepis) is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, it is not illegal to fish for it in Cambodia, though its not considered a good food fish in Southeast Asia. TESTED AND DEVELOPED BY GIANT'S E-BIKE ENDURO PROS, THIS UPDATED TRAIL RIPPER GIVES YOU THE POWER TO ENJOY THE BEST PARTS OF THE RIDE AGAIN AND AGAIN. Researchers have long known this area, with its braided channels and islands covered in seasonally flooded forest, to be a dry season refuge for many important Mekong species, including various megafauna. They then returned it unharmed back into the very remote portion of the Mekong River where it had been caught. The species is one of the worlds largest freshwater fishes, and is most commonly found in the deep pools of the Mekong River in Cambodia. Hogan says the Stung Treng province region of the river could have devastating ecological effects if proposed dams are built. As handlers readied to return the ray to the river, a chief of the local commune, Long Tha, crouched next to a young boy who had come to watch the animal. In the beginning, they were afraid of getting arrested or put in jail if they reported catching megafauna, she says. The fish had been captured accidentally after it swallowed a smaller fish on a baited hook. La Brea: Created by David Appelbaum. Local fishermen stand with a rescued giant freshwater stingray hooked by a fisherman's net at the Mekong River, in Stung Treng province, Cambodia May 5, 2022. Hard as it may seem, in this mysterious environment even an animal roughly the size and weight of a grand piano can be challenging to find! Photo: Handout via AFP. It measured 2.7m from head to tail, and weighed 293kg. Mekong giant catfish and Mekong giant barb. So when the fishers on remote Koh Preah island, downstream from Stung Treng, hooked a giant stingray on May 4, they contacted project members, who travelled from Phnom Penh, a six-hour journey through the night and in the driving rain, to reach the island site. Apart from the giant stingray, the giant barb, giant softshell turtle, the Mekong giant catfish and the last population of the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin are found here. It is not illegal to fish for giant stingrays in Cambodia, but it is not considered a good food fish in Southeast Asia. It can, according to a Khmer Times article about a 300kg stingray . During their visits to the area, the researchers saw technical equipment stationed around the proposed building site, evidence that an initial geological study is underway. In the first attempt of its kind to explore the deepest parts of the Mekong River, the team used as their eyes and ears unmanned submersibles equipped with lights and cameras, drop cameras suspended on long cables, and baited video cameras. It has been assessed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as it is threatened by overfishing and habitat degradation. As the Mekong River descends into Cambodia from neighbouring Laos, flowing languidly past sandbanks and forest-covered islands, its hard to imagine the explosion of life that occurs underneath its surface. The pelvic fins are longer than wide and triangular with rounded corners. The huge ray, weighing close to 400 pounds, was caught accidentally after it swallowed a smaller fish on a baited hook. Her captor could have sold her as food. This biological richness usually remains hidden from human view. It was caught on June 13 by a fisher named Moul Thun in the Stung Treng province in northeastern Cambodia, according to NBC . The researchers also sampled for DNA to identify rare or previously undetected species in the riverwhich, despite its importance, remains acutely understudied. [2][4], The pectoral fin disc of the Mekong freshwater stingray is oval in shape and slightly longer than wide. Copyright 2015-2021 National Geographic Partners, LLC. . (2009). The species is most known for its massive size, being 2 meters wide and weighing up to 200 kilograms, it is one of the world's . The fish had been captured accidentally after it swallowed a smaller fish on a baited hook. Contents 1 Taxonomy and phylogeny 2 Distribution and habitat 3 Description 4 Biology and ecology In collaboration with the Cambodian Fisheries Administration, the project has also established a network of fishers who report catches of giant and endangered fish. [1], The Mekong freshwater stingray is subject to intensive fishing aimed at large bony fishes. The over 13-foot long, 397-pound freshwater ray is an important find in that region of the Mekong. The Mekong river feeds jungles, irrigates crops for tens of millions of people, and supports the Tonle Sap lake - which the most productive inland fishery on the planet. It will mean the loss of fisheries, loss of biodiversity, loss of livelihoods, he says. The 4-metre (13ft) stingray, one of Southeast Asia's largest and rarest sea creatures, was living 75 metres (246ft) below the surface.". The ray . Wonders of the Mekong - University of Nevada, Reno. [2], The diet of the Mekong freshwater stingray consists of invertebrates from the river bed. Call (714) 256-6700 to reserve yours today. Scientists of Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-U.S. research project, would confirm the catch and measurement. The discovery of such a large fish has cheered conservationists. The secret of the Mekongs productivity is a seasonal flood that raises the river by as much as 40 feet and disperses juvenile fish downstream into the regions floodplains, where the fish feed and grow. A fisherman on the Mekong river in Cambodia last week hooked the biggest freshwater fish ever recorded, scientists said a 300-kilogram stingray. However, in June 2022 a Cambodian fisherman fishing on the Mekong River caught a female giant freshwater stingray ( Urogymnus polylepis) which claimed the title of the largest freshwater fish in the world. This is the last place on Earth where we find these creatures together, says Hogan, who is a fish biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, and leads the USAID-funded Wonders of the Mekong research project. Wonders of the Mekong scientific expedition used submersible watercraft with cameras and lights to probe deep pools of the river during its study. A giant 661-pound stingray was caught in a remote fishing village on the shores of the Mekong River in Cambodia, making it the heaviest freshwater fish ever documented, researchers said Monday . Caught in Cambodia's section of the Mekong River, the catch is, of course, also the largest giant stingray ever recorded. This massive, endangered stingray was hooked by accident and released unharmed, By It will alter this area forever.. It was previously thought the Cambodian government would refrain from building any dams on the main stem of the Mekong until at least 2030. A spin-off series entitled Robson's Extreme Fishing Challenge began airing on 9 April 2012, and a sequel series (Robson Green: Extreme . The tip of the snout protrudes slightly past the disc. It supports the largest inland fishery in the world, providing livelihoods for tens of millions of people living in the region. The area is also home to rare Irrawaddy dolphins and giant softshell turtles. Scientists say the giant stingray, measuring almost 13 feet from snout to tail, was caught in the Mekong River in Cambodia. The type specimen is an immature male 23cm (9.1in) across, caught from the Mekong in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. The jaws of adult males also become strongly curved. Inside the plan to save some of the biggest freshwater fish, 4 solutions for trees and forests threatened by a hotter world, New megadams threaten worlds biggest freshwater fish. There have been five series to date. There is also a narrow band of minute granular or pointed denticles on the back, which are confined by a pair of parallel lines drawn backward from the spiracles. Marine biologists are celebrating the catch of a massive, endangered freshwater stingray on May 5 from the Mekong River in Cambodia's northeastern Stung Treng . The Mekong freshwater stingray, Hemitrygon laosensis, is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae, restricted to the Mekong and Chao Phraya Rivers in Laos and Thailand; the occurrence in Chao Phraya is considered an introduction. Historically, this section of river produced 200 billion young fish that then during the flood season disperses throughout all of Cambodia and even into Vietnam, Hogan said. The number of enlarged midline denticles increases with age. Experts suggest this may be because of the depth of the river these species inhabit as well as the fact that they are so difficult to catch. See hi-res pictures, compare prices and find your perfect car at Auto.com. Hogan and Stefan Lovgren are co-authors of the forthcoming bookChasing Giants: In Search of the Worlds Largest Freshwater Fish. BANGKOK - The world's largest recorded freshwater fish, a giant stingray, has been caught in the Mekong River in Cambodia, according to scientists from the Southeast Asian nation and the United States. Fishermen in northern Cambodia caught a 661-pound freshwater stingray in the Mekong River earlier this month, according to reports. What makes working in the Mekong River challenging, particularly from an imaging standpoint, is the high turbidity, or low visibility, even in the deepest depths, she says. Using several 100-kilo scales, the researchers confirmed its weight as 180 kilos (almost 400 pounds) and its length as 3.93 meters (almost 13 feet). The Himantura Kittipongi freshwater stingray, found in the Mekong Basin of western Thailand . A giant stingray weighing 143kg was captured and released in Stung Treng province on May 23. But last week it surfaced, literally, as fishers hauled a 13 foot-(3.9 metre-) long giant freshwater stingray, weighing almost 400 pounds (181kg), out of the Mekongs murky depths. On the international team of researchers taking part were two other Nat Geo Explorers: Kakani Katija, a deep sea researcher, and Kenny Broad, an environmental anthropologist and cave diver. Experts believe giant stingrays are the largest freshwater species on Earth, according to National Geographic. The river as a whole is particularly threatened by climate change. The populations of these two rivers are likely isolated from each other. The Mekong river, which starts in the Tibetan plateau and snakes through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, feeding some 66m people along the way, is home to more species of huge freshwater fish than any other in the world. As enormous as the ray was, Hogan and others have conducted extensive interviews with fishers working in the region who say theyve caught rays almost twice that size. This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "A giant stingray in the Mekong", Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents, The Hindu-nationalist prime minister is governing India as he governed Gujarat, The industrys business model has hardly changed since the 1960s, Published since September 1843 to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.. Such accounts are very difficult to verify, but there is reason to believe the giant freshwater stingray is the largest freshwater fish species in the world. From a boat above, they watched on a computer screen as the vehicle moved through thick sediment and silt, which reduced visibility to just a foot or so. It discovered migratory fish known as trey . Not wanting to kill the female ray, the fishers called a rescue team, which managed to unhook it, weigh and measure it, and release it back to the river unharmed. En cliquant sur Accepter tout, vous acceptez que Yahoo et nos partenaires traitent vos informations personnelles et utilisent des technologies telles que les cookies pour afficher des publicits et des contenus personnaliss, et des fins de mesure des publicits et des contenus, dtude des audiences et de dveloppement de produit. The Mekong River is home to 1,000 species, including diadromous ones that spend parts of their life cycles in freshwater and marine saltwater environments. It was the first time many of the villagers had seen such a large fish. This is a very remote stretch of river, its not well studied, its incredibly important for fisheries and biodiversity, and its also a stretch of river that is under threat, he said. [2], A single row of thorn-like dermal denticles runs along the midline of the back and tail; with the largest found at the base of the tail. Learn more about the Societys support of explorers highlighting and protecting critical species. He is a fisheries biologist from the University of Nevada. This giant ray weighed more than 400 pounds. Because of these pressures, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed this species as Endangered. Pour en savoir plus sur notre utilisation de vos informations, veuillez consulter notre Politique relative la vie prive et notre Politique en matire de cookies. Close. Over 140 of them have been built on the Mekong and its tributaries to feed the regions growing demand for electricity. Photo: YouTube/MizzimaTV Normally, the giant freshwater stingray packs a poisonous, serrated stinger up to 15 inches long, though this individual appeared to not have a stinger when it was caught. A characteristic feature of this species is its bright orange underside. Search used Chevrolet Corvette Stingray w/2LT for sale in Brea, CA. This biological richness usually remains hidden from human view. The whip-like tail is no longer than twice the disc width and bears 1 (rarely 2) stinging spines on the upper surface. The wet season is shorter than it used to be and tends to start later, says Courtney Weatherby of the Stimson Centre, a think-tank. In the past 50 years the population of giant fish has dropped by 94%. The giant freshwater stingray, one of Southeast Asia's largest and rarest fish, was the focus of a recent USAID-funded Wonders of Mekong project expedition to Stung Treng Province, Cambodia. The giant stingray that measured about 13 feet in length was caught by a fisherman, Moul Thun, 42, with a hook and line near a remote island on the Mekong River in the Stung Treng area. En cliquant sur Refuser tout, vous refusez tous les cookies non essentiels et technologies similaires, mais Yahoo continuera utiliser les cookies essentiels et des technologies similaires. A team of marine biologists have discovered an endangered giant freshwater stingray during a recent expedition to a remote stretch of the Mekong River in Cambodia. The expedition's basecamp was adjacent to one of the Mekong's deepest pools and a fish reserve designed to protect spawning fish. Published May 13, 2022 1:14 PM. Your browser does not support the