Villagers in Cambodia recently reeled in the world’s largest freshwater fish on record: a 661 pound, 13 feet wide stingray.

After being weighed and assessed, Boramy was electronically tagged for monitoring and returned to the river.

Wonders of the Mekong/AFP via Getty Images

This handout photo taken on June 14, 2022 and released on June 20 by the US-funded Wonders of the Mekong project shows a 661 pound (300kg) giant freshwater stingray that was caught and released in the Mekong river in Cambodia’s Stung Treng province. - A fisherman on the Mekong river in Cambodia has hooked the biggest freshwater fish ever recorded, scientists said June 20 – a 300-kilogram stingray.

The catch was said to be 17 years in the making for biologist Zeb Hogan. The former host ofMonster Fishhad been searching for the world’s largest freshwater fish for over a decade,The New York Timesreported.

“This is very exciting news because it was the world’s largest (freshwater) fish,” said Hogan, who is involved in the Wonders of the Mekong project, to CNN.

“It is also exciting news because it means that this stretch of the Mekong is still healthy… It is a sign of hope that these huge fish still live [here],” he added.

This handout photo taken on June 14, 2022 and released on June 20 by the US-funded Wonders of the Mekong project shows a 661 pound (300kg) giant freshwater stingray that was caught and released in the Mekong river in Cambodia’s Stung Treng province. - A fisherman on the Mekong river in Cambodia has hooked the biggest freshwater fish ever recorded, scientists said June 20 – a 300-kilogram stingray.

Beramy took the record for heaviest freshwater fish from a catfish caught in 2005. The previous record-holder weighed 645-pound, per theTimes.

The Mekong River has the third-most diverse fish population in the world with about 1,148 documented fish species, theMekong River Commission reports, and over 2.3 million tons of fish are caught there each year.

source: people.com