Mekong Giant Catfish Facts!

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Giant Mekong Catfish (Wallago leeri) by Ginkgo100 GFDL

Mekong Giant Catfish Facts!

Giant_Mekong_Catfish_Wallago_leeri
Giant Mekong Catfish (Wallago leeri) by Ginkgo100 GFDL

The Mekong Giant Catfish is native to the Mekong River basin in Thailand. It is the world’s largest freshwater fish, measuring roughly 3 m (9.8 ft) in length. The Mekong giant catfish can be distinguished from other catfish by its near-total lack of barbells plus its lack of teeth. It is the only catfish without teeth.

Feeding

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A Northern krill Zooplankton (Meganyctiphanes norvegica). Image credit: Øystein Paulsen GFDL

Juveniles feed on a variety of zooplankton, but when they are around a year old, the diet will change to algae and also plants at the bottom of the river. To obtain the required amount of nutrition the catfish spends a lot of time on feeding. Unless there is a lack of its natural food source, the catfish does not normally feed on fish.




Mystery Fish

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Giant Mekong Catfish by lynnylchan cc2.0

This catfish inhabits parts of the river where it is deeper and in places where the water flow is faster as well. Due to this it is very hard to spot it and there are many things that are still a mystery about it. It is a critically endangered species of catfish.

Mekong Giant Catfish are featured in the following book:
25 River Monsters


The YouTube video playlist below contains videos about Mekong Giant Catfish. Details of the videos featured are underneath.

The Playlist:

  1. Hooked : The Elusive Giant Catfish by NationalGeographic
  2. Hooked : Mekong Giant Catfish by NationalGeographic
  3. Worlds Biggest Fish Caught – Mekong Catfish by EpicToolTime




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