Stingray caught in Mekong believed world’s largest freshwater fish

In an undated image provided by Chhut Chheana, a Urogymnus polylepis, or giant stingray, was fished out of the Mekong River to be weighed and measured in Cambodia. (Chhut Chheana via The New York Times)

For 17 years, Zeb Hogan, a biologist, has been searching for the world’s largest freshwater fish. On June 13, his team found it — a giant freshwater stingray, or Urogymnus polylepis.

The ray, hauled out of the murky waters of the Mekong River in Cambodia, measured four metres in length before it was returned to the river. And at 300kg, it was 7kg heavier than a Mekong giant catfish caught in Thailand in 2005. Hogan said he had previously established that freshwater fish as the largest ever caught.