Fisherman Moul Thun, 42, was hooked to the female tick, which was almost 13 feet high from the muzzle to the tail, near a remote island in the Mekong River on June 13. The next morning, the fisherman alerted a nearby team from the Mekong Wonders – a joint Cambodian-US research project – that published its conservation work in communities along the river. The scientists arrived within hours after receiving a midnight call with the news and were surprised by what they saw. “Yes, when you see a fish of this size, especially in freshwater, it’s hard to understand, so I think our whole team was surprised,” Wonders of the Mekong leader Zeb Hogan told the university in an online interview. of Nevada in Reno. The bun was anchored near a remote island in the Mekong River on June 13. Chhut Chheana / Wonders of the Mekong via AP Tsoureki broke the previous record for the largest freshwater fish held by a giant 646-pound Mekong catfish discovered in 2005 in northern Thailand. But the catch was not just setting a new record, Hogan said. “The fact that the fish can still grow so large is a promising sign for the Mekong River,” Hogan said, noting that the waterway faces many environmental challenges, including pollution from overfishing and dam construction. About a dozen men were needed to take care of the mouthpiece on the shore. Chhut Chheana / Wonders of the Mekong via AP The Mekong River crosses China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is home to many species of freshwater giant fish, but environmental pressures are mounting. “The big fish in the world are in danger. They are items of high value. They need a lot of time to mature. “So if they are fished before they mature, they do not have the opportunity to reproduce,” Hogan said. “Many of these large fish are migratory, so they need large areas to survive.” Scientists rushed to the spot and placed a marker near the tail of the large fish before releasing it back into the river. The device will send tracking information for next year, providing unprecedented data on the behavior of giant ticks in Cambodia. Wonders of the Mekong leader Zeb Hogan (above) said that “our whole team was surprised” when he found the warbler. AP Photo / Courtesy of Zeb Hogan, University of Nevada-Reno “The giant miser is a very misunderstood fish. “His name, even his scientific name, has changed several times in the last 20 years,” Hogan said. “It’s all over Southeast Asia, but we have almost no information about it. We do not know about his life story. We do not know about its ecology, about its immigration standards “. Researchers say it is the fourth giant tick reported in the same area in the past two months, all female. They believe this may be a spawning hotspot for the species. Despite the record of catches thrown back into the water, the fisherman was compensated with the purchase price, which means he was paid about $ 600. With postal cables
