Mega Freshwater Fish Worldwide

400 pounds (180 kilograms)

 

An adult arapaima fish

 

Visitors saw a preserved paddlefish at the Yangtze River Fishery Research Institute in Jingzhou, China

 

This dangerous species lives in China's Yangtze River and ranks the largest freshwater fish in the world. Unfortunately, overfishing and dam construction have decimated paddlefish populations

 

A pair of Chinese sturgeons swims in the Beijing City Aquarium. Capable of weighing half a ton and growing to 16 feet (5 meters) long, this freshwater leviathan is one of the largest sturgeon species on Earth

 

A giant barb was caught on the Tonle Sap River near Phnom Penh, Cambodia. There is evidence that the species can reach sizes of 10 feet (3 meters) long and 660 pounds (300 kilograms)

 

A Cambodian man came face-to-face with a giant barb on the Tonle Sap River near Phnom Penh. Fishermen along the Tonle Sap catch five to ten adult giant barbs each year, making the region one of the last places on Earth to see these impressive fish at their largest

 

A newborn giant stingray was caught by local fishermen on the Banpakong River near Bangkok, Thailand. The mother stingray measured 14 feet (4 meters) long and weighed from 200 to 300 pounds (90 to 140 kilograms). Scientists hope the presence of a baby and a pregnant mother means the river is a nursery for these freshwater giants

 

Fish experts believe the giant stingray such as this one in Cambodia's Mekong River, is the largest freshwater species on Earth. This specimen measured more than 13 feet (4 meters) long

 

Lake sturgeons - the freshwater monsters living in North America's Great Lakes and upper Mississippi River are extremely long-lived. Scientists determined that a specimen caught in Canada in 1953 was 152 years old

 

Mekong giant catfish is one of the largest fish in the world. This fish this can reach 10 feet (3 meters) long and weigh up to 650 pounds (300 kilograms)

 

A Cambodian man observed a Mekong giant catfish on the Tonle Sap River

 

Two boys carried giant river catfish in Cambodia on their shoulder

 

The giant Eurasian trout, also known as a taimen, is famous for its voracious appetite. This 5-foot (1.5-meter) specimen was found on the banks of the Eg-Uur River in northern Mongolia after killing a 3-foot (1-meter) victim of the same species

 

Taimen laid their eggs in a nest

 

The taimen is the world's largest salmonid. Some taimen reach six feet (two meters) long and weigh more than 220 pounds (100 kilograms)