TV host Jeff Corwin (top right) and vet Nantarika Chansue (left) examine the huge freshwater stingray caught in Thailand’s Mae Klong River.
BANGKOK – Researchers from Chulalongkorn University along with Jeff Corwin from Ocean Mysteries caught a giant car-sized stingray in the Mae Klong River and it may be the largest freshwater fish ever documented.
Nicknamed the Big One”, the sting ray — which weighed around 360 kilograms — was caught and released in the Mae Klong River, about an hour outside Bangkok, National Geographic reports.
One of the researchers, Nantarika Chansue, a veterinarian and professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said the ray measured 4.3 metres long.
An ultrasound performed on the ray while it was held in a cage in the river, revealing that the animal was pregnant with two foetal rays.
Zeb Hogan, a professor of biology at the University of Nevada, told National Geographic the previous size record for this species was an estimated 314 kilograms.
“Certainly (this) was a huge fish, even compared to other giant freshwater stingrays, and definitely ranks among the largest freshwater fish in the world,” he said.
The catch was filmed for an upcoming episode of the US television show Ocean Mysteries, hosted by Jeff Corwin