Giant Catfish Netted In Thailand Weighs 646+ pounds

A 646 Pound Fish!
this might even be enough to feed an entire army of insurgents...


A 646.2-pound (293 kg) Mekong giant catfish, netted in Thailand, may be the largest freshwater fish ever found. The fish was documented as part of a World Wildlife Fund-National Geographic project to identify and study and conserve freshwater fish around the world that exceed 6 feet in length and 200 pounds in weight. (Stringer/Thailand/Reuters)

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Pangasianodon gigas

Perhaps the most famous catfish of Southeast Asia is Pangasianodon gigas. This fish is known in Cambodia as Trey Reach (royal fish), in Laos as the Pa Buk, and in Thailand as the Pla Beuk. In English we simply call it the Mekong giant catfish. This fish not only has the distinction of being one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world, but it is also possibly the fastest growing. Newly hatched fry measure less than one quarter of an inch, by day 11 they measure over an inch, and at only six years of age they can weigh nearly 100 pounds. An adult fish will reach over nine feet and weigh over 650 pounds. Adult fish have no teeth and feed on algae making this catfish a true gentle giant. Southeast Asia is rife with folklore of this mighty catfish, and eating the flesh is believed to confer the gifts of wisdom and long life.

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