20 Largest Freshwater Fish

Yu-Chun Kao

1. Chinese paddlefish, 長江白鱘, (Polyodontidae, Psephurus gladius) Largest size: 700cm, 500kg. (which was caught 50 years ago but unconfirmed) Yangtze River Basin IUCN red list (2006): Critically endangered

This 3.3m and 13kg Chinese Paddle fish was caught in Nanjing, in December 2002. He was serious injured and died in January 2003.

http://www.discoveryangtze.com/Yangtzediscovery/sailing_the_Yangtze.htm http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2005-12/31/content_143813.htm http://www.chinanews.com.cn/2002-12-12/26/252878.html

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2. Giant freshwater stingray (Dasyatidae, Himantura chaophraya) Largest size: 500cm, 600kg Mekong River Basin (湄公河, south Asia) IUCN red list: Vulnerable

I don’t understand Thai, so I don’t know its length but it is 198lb (90kg). 2

This stingray measured 4.2 meters in length and was too massive to weigh.

http://www.czjszx.com/xueke/yy/upload/gallery/g20051016221241.gif http://www.gx.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2004-09/07/content_2822557.htm http://www.4so9.com/cauca/ArticleView.php?article_id=220 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/11/photogalleries/giantcatfish/photo6.html

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3. Wels catfish (Siluridae, Silurus glanis) Largest size: 500cm, 306kg Widespread in Europe and Asia IUCN red list: Least concern

A British angler has landed a European record on his first catfishing expedition. Carl Smith, pictured right with friend Dave Jones, caught the 226lb (102kg) wels catfish on holiday in Spain. The men struggled with the 8ft (243cm) monster for more than 90 minutes and have named it Jaws. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=418174&in_page_i d=1770

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4. Arapaima, pirarucu, paiche (Osteoglossiformes, Arapaima gigas) Largest size: 450cm, 200kg Amazon River Basin IUCN red list: Data deficient

We have one in Toledo Aquarium, the largest fish there. It is a member of family Osteoglossidae (osteo- bony, gloss- tongue; yes, its tongue is bony.) Their relative Red Arowana (紅龍, Scleropages formosus) is believed to bring good fortune in Asia. Some people say it is the largest freshwater “scaled” fish.

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Red Arowana

http://www.junglephotos.com/amazon/ammaps/ammodmaps/natgeographicmap.shtml http://www.down2earthdown2us.org/pages/amazon.html http://myfwc.com/fishing/Fishes/Restricted.html http://biodiv.coi.gov.cn/sw/yu/051010.htm

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5. Soldatov's catfish, northern sheatfish 東北六鬚鯰, 東北大口鯰, 懷頭鯰 (Siluridae, Silurus soldatovi) Russian Name: cом Солдатова Largest size: 400cm Amur River Basin (黑龍江, northeast Asia) IUCN red list: Not evaluated (Chinese people started to cultivate the fish recently.)

A Russian environmental worker on the Amur river, near Khabarovsk (the browncicrcle,) tests pollution levels as a vast Chinese benzene spill heads into the region. Sorry I cannot find a large picture.

http://www.sokoltours.com/destination.phtml?m=538 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4478222.stm http://www.kepu.com.cn/gb/lives/fish/rare/200210240014.html

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6. Piraíba, aulau, lechero (Pimelodidae, Brachyplatystoma filamentosum) Largest size: 360cm, 200kg Amazon River Basin IUCN red list: Not evaluated

Foto de Piraíba de 102.00 kg http://www.fotosdepesca.com.br/mostrarfoto.php?fotoID=2863&especie=Foto-de-Pira%C3%AD ba

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7. Alligator gar (Lepisosteidae, Atractosteus spatula) Largest size: 305cm, 137kg Mississippi River Basin IUCN red list: Not evaluated

Alligator Gar. 8'2", 244.5 lbs, and 44.75" girth (249cm, 111kg)

http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/bro/MRivDrainageBasin.gif http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/photos/photo_mississippi_mississippi.html http://www.opticstalk.com/photoserver/photoDetail.aspx?photo=1559 9

8. Mekong giant catfish (Pangasiidae, Pangasianodon gigas) Largest size: 300cm, 300kg Mekong River Basin IUCN red list: Critically endangered

Best resolution I can find. (2.7m, 293kg) http://www.team-swap.com/Images/catfish.jpg Many cool pictures in this site including some of Mekong giant catfish. http://www.carpecarpio.com/exoticfishpictures.html This fish ranks No. 4 in top 10 National Geographic news stories of 2005. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1219_051219_topten_news.html

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9. Giant barb, Giant Siamese (暹邏) Carp, (Cyprinidae, Catlocarpio siamensis) Largest size: 300cm, 300kg Mekong River Basin IUCN red list: Not evaluated

110kg. (length estimated to be 2.2m) http://www.aouo.com/ThaiGiantCarp.html

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10. Giant pangasius, dog-eating catfish (Pangasiidae, Pangasius sanitwongsei) Largest size: 300cm, 300kg Mekong River Basin IUCN red list: Data deficient

Length estimated to be 1.5m, unknown weight. This website has a lot of catfish pictures including the one above. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=268

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11. Putitor mahseer (Cyprinidae, Tor putitora) Golden mahseer, yellow-finned mahseer or common Himalayan mahseer, Tor putitora. (Genus Tor => mahseer) Hindi: मसीर Largest size: 275cm Brahmaputra River Basin (雅魯藏布江) IUCN red list: Not evaluated “The ultimate freshwater fish, renowned as the hardest fighting species on the planet, is mahseer.”…http://www.fishmahseer.com/

150cm, 40kg

http://www.sdnpbd.org/river_basin/bangladesh/bangladesh_water_resources.htm http://www.carto.net/neumann/travelling/china_tibet_2001/12_flight_to_tibet_lhasa/ http://www.fishing-worldrecords.com/photo_gallery5.htm There are some photos in this web site. http://www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/warm_freshwater/tor_putitora.htm

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12. Lake sturgeon (Acipenseridae, Acipenser fulvescens) Largest size: 274cm, 125kg St. Lawrence, Great Lakes IUCN red list: Not evaluated

http://www.great-lakes.net/lakes/ From NRE 422, 423. Many photos in http://www.briancoad.com/NCR/Acipenseridae.htm 14

13. Wallago, giant sheatfish (Siluridae, Wallago attu) Largest size: 240cm Mekong River Basin IUCN red list: Not evaluated

Estimated to be 1.6m (unknown weight.) A lot of cool pictures of Thai anglers: http://www.anglingthailand.com.

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14. Mangar, Tigris salmon, Pike Barb (Cyprinidae, Barbus esocinus) Largest size: 230cm, 136kg Tigris River Basin (底格里斯河) IUCN red list: Not evaluated Largest fish in Iraq.

British Army SGT Kevin Choules of Southampton, UK. caught this 52-inch Tigris Salmon floating a piece of bread on the one of the lakes near Saddam’s Palace. The carp was estimated to weight around 70 to 75 pounds. According to Jim Turner, EDO Tech in Iraq, they attempted to weight the fish on a 50 pound scale but the scale broke. http://demo.lutherproductions.com/bibletutor/level1/program/start/places/maps/overall.htm http://www.rivernet.org/ http://www.briancoad.com/main.asp?page=TitlePage_Iraq.htm http://www.ibeoutdoors.com/enews.html 16

15. Mississippi paddlefish, Spoonbill catfish (Polyodontidae, Polyodon spathula) Largest size: 221cm (including paddle) Mississippi River Basin IUCN red list: Vulnerable

I guess it’s around 6 ft, weight unknown of course. They seem to be pretty abundant. http://www.beaverlakeguideservice.com

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16. Nile perch (Latidae, Lates niloticus) Largest size: 200cm, 200kg Nile River Basin (尼羅河) IUCN red list: Not evaluated

http://encarta.msn.com/media_461519267_761558310_-1_1/Nile_River.html http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210200/ancient_egypt/nile_river.htm http://moldychum.typepad.com/moldy_chum/weird_fish/index.html 18

Yellow Perch

Nile Perch (80kg, estimate to be 1.8m) http://www.seabreezecharters.com/ http://www.worldangler.com/Africa%20Fishing%20Lodges/uganda.htm 19

17. Pallid sturgeon (Acipenseridae, Scaphirhynchus albus) Largest size: 200cm, 130kg Mississippi River Basin IUCN red list: Endangered

I guess both of them are around 1.7m. http://fwp.mt.gov/fieldguide/mediaDisplay.aspx?id=4409&elcode=AFCAA02010 http://wwwaux.cerc.cr.usgs.gov/micra/PALLIDST.HTM 20

18. Murray cod (Percichthyidae, Maccullochella peelii peelii) Largest size: 200cm, 113.5 kg Murray River Basin (in Australia) IUCN red list: Not evaluated Largest freshwater fish in Australia

I think it is 1.5m and very heavy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_River http://www.outdoorssa.com.au/Camping_Pages/cp_along_the_murray.htm http://www.abc.net.au/water/stories/s1825337.htm

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19. Tanganyika lates, giant perch (Latidae, Lates angustifrons) Largest size: 200cm, 100kg Lake Tanganyika (the second largest Africa) IUCN red list: Endangered

Not very large… http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9901/06/congo.massacre.02/dem.congo.uvira.lake.jpg http://www.search.com/reference/Lake_Tanganyika http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/PicturesSummary.cfm?StartRow=1&ID=4497&what=species

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20. Taimen (Salmonidae, Hucho taimen) Largest size: 200cm, 100kg Selenge River Basin (色楞格河), Lake Baikal (貝加爾湖), Amur River Basin IUCN red list: Not evaluated

The fish is estimated to be 1.7m, not too heavy.

It is 18.55kg and about 1.4m.

http://geology.com/world/mongolia-satellite-image.shtml http://www.mongoltour-nomt.mn/fishingtour2.html http://cafe.joins.com/orchidtour/233496 http://www.igfa.org/News.asp?qs=185 23

IUCN RED LIST CATEGORY (IUCN: International Union for the Protection of Nature)

Definitions (from http://www.iucnredlist.org/info/categories_criteria2001#categories) Short version with Chinese: EXTINCT (EX): A taxon is Extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. => 毫無疑問，這一種生物全部都死了。 EXTINCT IN THE WILD (EW): A taxon is Extinct in the Wild when it is known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalized population (or populations) well outside the past range. => 此生物之所有族群已經沒有辦法在外力不介入的狀況下於野外自我繁衍，現今生 存者均為圈養或以歸化為另一物種。 CRITICALLY ENDANGERED (CR) ENDANGERED (EN) VULNERABLE (VU) NEAR THREATENED (NT) LEAST CONCERN (LC) Based on a lot of criteria, the only important thing is to know the hierarchy. => 重點在誰比較危險 DATA DEFICIENT (DD): We have data but not enough. =>資料不夠 NOT EVALUATED (NE): We didn’t do anything about that. =>尚未評估

Original and Long Version without Chinese EXTINCT (EX) A taxon is Extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. A taxon is presumed Extinct when exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout its historic range have failed to record an individual. Surveys should be over a time frame appropriate to the taxon's life cycle and life form. EXTINCT IN THE WILD (EW) A taxon is Extinct in the Wild when it is known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalized population (or populations) well outside the past range. A taxon is presumed Extinct in the Wild when exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout its historic range have failed to record an individual. Surveys should be over a time frame appropriate to the taxon's life cycle and life form. CRITICALLY ENDANGERED (CR) A taxon is Critically Endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of 24

the criteria A to E for Critically Endangered (see Section V), and it is therefore considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. ENDANGERED (EN) A taxon is Endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria A to E for Endangered (see Section V), and it is therefore considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild. VULNERABLE (VU) A taxon is Vulnerable when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria A to E for Vulnerable (see Section V), and it is therefore considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. NEAR THREATENED (NT) A taxon is Near Threatened when it has been evaluated against the criteria but does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable now, but is close to qualifying for or is likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future. LEAST CONCERN (LC) A taxon is Least Concern when it has been evaluated against the criteria and does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable or Near Threatened. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category. DATA DEFICIENT (DD) A taxon is Data Deficient when there is inadequate information to make a direct, or indirect, assessment of its risk of extinction based on its distribution and/or population status. A taxon in this category may be well studied, and its biology well known, but appropriate data on abundance and/or distribution are lacking. Data Deficient is therefore not a category of threat. Listing of taxa in this category indicates that more information is required and acknowledges the possibility that future research will show that threatened classification is appropriate. It is important to make positive use of whatever data are available. In many cases great care should be exercised in choosing between DD and a threatened status. If the range of a taxon is suspected to be relatively circumscribed, and a considerable period of time has elapsed since the last record of the taxon, threatened status may well be justified. NOT EVALUATED (NE) A taxon is Not Evaluated when it is has not yet been evaluated against the criteria.

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