Catfish is the largest freshwater predator. The weight of this fish can reach 300 kg. (it can easily swallow a person, and such cases have even been recorded. By the way, you will learn about one of them from our article).
According to scientists, such giants are about 80 years old. It is very rare that any fishermen are lucky - they mostly catch catfish, which does not exceed 20 kg. in weight, and even this is a victory for beginners! You can imagine what fishermen experience when they come across a specimen of impressive size...
In terms of external characteristics, the catfish cannot be confused with any other fish: it has a large head with the same mouth, a long tail, a body without scales, two large mustaches and small eyes.
The first representatives of the “ray-finned” class, to which catfish belong, appeared in the Devonian period, approximately 390 million years BC. Gradually they settled over large territories, and new groups and families began to form.
Catfish prefer to live solitary lives on the river bottom - they rarely appear on the surface, they are distinguished by their slowness and lazy behavior. However, when hunting, they can accelerate.
Fishermen love to catch catfish, because their meat is very tasty and healthy: it is believed that 200 g of catfish can satisfy the daily protein intake in the human body, 100 g contains 5.1 g of fat, and a large part of the nutritional value consists of water - 76.7 g . per 100 g of product, due to which the benefits of meat are high.
Every fisherman dreams of setting a record by catching the biggest fish. I must say, some people succeed in this - for example, the fishermen from our selection. Let's find out where the largest catfish in the world were caught.
Louisiana catfish – 51 kg
Teenager Lawson Boyt made his own catch in the Mississippi River, which became a sensation. It is not known exactly how long it took to pull the fish out of the water. The caught catfish took the bait of American herring.
In the recent past, in the same state, fisherman Keith Day caught a fish weighing 49.9 kg.
Belarusian – 80 kg
There are rumors that there are giant radioactive fish in the Pripyat River. No special records have been seen yet, except for a single catch. In 2011, a catfish was accidentally caught by a local fisherman in the Chernobyl zone.
The man and his assistants were casting nets; after the next cast, the fishing gear was not immediately retrieved because it was stuck. It took an hour to unravel the nets and get them out of the water. The specimen was measured and weighed, but was not released; the carcass went to the fisherman's friends.
Albino from Spain – 88 kg
In 2009, fishermen pulled a hefty albino catfish from the Ebro River. Briton Chris was unable to extract the loot alone; his comrades came to the rescue. Half an hour later the fish appeared on the shore. After photographs were taken as a souvenir, the catfish was released.
In the same river in 2010, a woman with poor eyesight caught a catfish. The production amount was 97 kg. It took half an hour to extract her from the reservoir; Sheila Penfold was helped by her husband and son. After several photographs and weighing, the fish was released.
Catfish from Spain - 88 kg
Look what an unusual albino catfish! It was pulled out of the Ebro River, which flows in Spain. Briton Chris couldn't cope with pulling the fish ashore alone, so he called his friends for help - this was in 2009. As a team, they pulled out a catfish, fortunately, unlike the fishermen from Belarus, they released the fish, but first took pictures with it as a souvenir.
Interestingly , in the Ebro in 2011 there was a catfish weighing 97 kg. caught by a woman with poor eyesight. It took half an hour to extract the catfish, but Sheila Penfold did not cope with the task herself, but called her husband and son for help. After a photo session and weigh-in, the family released the giant.
Fish from Holland
A representative of the river world, 2.3 meters long, lives in the Center parcs pond. He received the funny nickname “Big Momma” from his employees. According to the observations of the guards, catfish feed on ducks from the pond; they eat up to three birds per day. In addition, several dogs of different sizes were eaten by catfish. Is under state protection. Fishing in the recreation park is strictly prohibited.
Where does it live in nature?
The common catfish is a heat-loving fish; most of the day they live in calm waters near the shores, under plant roots and other natural shelters.
The activity of these fish begins at dusk and lasts until early morning, at which time it hunts and searches for food. They can be found in all layers of water, both in shallow water and in the deepest part of the reservoir. They hunt in the same way; they get their prey from the bottom and surface of the reservoir.
They are omnivores, so they can live in any body of water from a shallow puddle to a large freshwater sea.
Like many fish, when the water temperature rises, its metabolism increases, and its activity increases at such times. In winter, it usually stays put in deep places with a muddy bottom and hardly leaves there.
Read about what catfish eat in nature in the article: What do catfish eat.
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Catfish Roberto Godi – 114 kg
Caught in 2011 in Italy. It took six people to pull out the fish for almost an hour. An experienced fisherman did not think that he would encounter such a specimen. We came to the reservoir in the hope of catching bream, but in the end we got a giant one. After capture, the weight was determined and released back into the river.
Italian fishermen send the caught fish back to the river, so repeated captures of the same fish are possible.
French catfish – 120 kg
In 2015, it was caught in the Rhone River by tourist Yuri Grisendi, who deliberately hunts for large fish. The Italian admitted that the catch was the most valuable in 20 years of constant fishing. The catfish was subsequently filmed for evidence and released into the pond.
In 2021, three French fishermen caught an 80-kilogram catfish. The prey was hooked near the Moselle department. After photographing the catch, they decided to release the fish into its natural habitat.
What is the largest catfish in the world?
Officially confirmed record holders had the following dimensions:
- 2.37 m long and weighing 85 kg, caught in 1998 by Mario Caruso on the Rhine River;
- Length 238 cm and weight 113 kg, caught on April 8, 2002 by Austrian Edeltraud Pfeiffermann in a tributary of the Italian Po River.
- The all-time record holder, weighing 375 kg (without entrails), was caught in nets in Oder, Germany in 1761. .
Experts call the following conditions for these fish to reach a weight of more than 100 kg:
- Availability of warm water;
- A lot of food;
- The age of the fish is more than 50 years.
For this reason, it is believed that the homeland of truly large specimens on the Eurasian continent is Italy, where these three conditions are fully met. What is noteworthy is that almost all large common catfish were caught on a piece of eel.
They grow throughout their lives. Their sizes are influenced by the following factors:
- Water temperature;
- Availability of food;
- Availability of water, as they can live even in dirty puddles.
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This is a very adaptive species that adapts to environmental conditions, thanks to which they survive in conditions where other fish cannot survive.
Fish from Thailand – 293 kg
In May 2005, the largest catfish in this area was caught on the Mekong River. The reliability of the information was determined by Z. Hogan, responsible for the WWF project. The fish was noted in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest catfish in the world.
They wanted to give the caught fish under the care of the environmental service, but it did not survive. Local residents said that huge and long catfish had been caught in the river before.
Huge catfish from Thailand in the Guinness book
The largest catfish in the world was caught in Thailand in the Mekong river waters in 2005. This specimen, whose weight category exceeded 293 kg, with a body size of 2.7 m, became the largest species among river fish. The parameters of this individual were documented by the head of the world research organization WWF. The head of the World Wildlife Fund, Z. Hogan, an albino giant caught in the Mekong, was included in his research as the largest fish among freshwater species on the globe. Local fishermen had caught similar specimens in the Mekong before, however, over time, large specimens began to disappear due to water pollution. They planned to hand over the albino monster to environmentalists, but he died due to stress.
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About catches in Russia
Before the revolution, many cases were documented when individuals weighing 300-400 kg were caught in the Volga.
Some claim that in the 19th century, the king of catfish was caught in Lake Issyk-Kul - 347 kg. But exact data is not available. An arch was installed on the site, which resembles the jaws of a huge underwater predator. The landmark has not survived to this day.
In 2009, in the Kursk region, a catfish weighing 200 kg was caught by accident. The fishermen-hunters saw the fish underwater and managed to shoot from a special gun. It was not possible to get the trophy on our own; a rural tractor driver was called to help. The event was recorded by employees of the regional fisheries inspection.
Only in Europe is there a great abundance of this type of fish. So far, Russian fishermen have been plagued by failure. For many years, no cases of catching catfish of gigantic size have been recorded. Several factors influence the decline in fish numbers:
- Unfavorable environmental conditions;
- Constantly developing poaching;
- The climate is unsuitable, causing lakes and rivers to freeze heavily in winter;
- Low population of fish that feed on the catfish family.
Interesting facts about catfish
- The fish is distinguished by intelligence and cunning, and shows amazing greed at the sight of food. Picks up everything edible that ends up in water bodies.
- The value directly depends on how large the reservoir where the catfish live. Large individuals are found in deep rivers and freshwater lakes.
- It is considered a sedentary fish with a closed behavior and is always in one cavity. Only an extreme situation leads to a search for new housing.
- The mustachioed predator prefers depth and leads a sedentary lifestyle. This feature is closely related to the diet, so the fish feeds on carrion. But with age, the need for other foods increases.
- Catfish need long whiskers to smell prey in the dark and in turbid water. For bait, it moves its whiskers, imitating the movement of worms, while simultaneously opening its mouth.
- At night, it likes to swim near the thickets, where it quickly catches confused frogs.
- Catching it with a fishing rod is not difficult; voracious catfish bite on any bait, but it is not always possible to pull them ashore. The weight of the fish causes the fishing line to break or the fishing gear to break.
Myths and legends associated with catfish
The enormous size of the fish gave rise to a lot of all kinds of legends and myths. Thus, the myths associated with the possibility of raising a giant in artificial conditions are not supported by anything. Of course, raising such massive individuals in captivity is complicated by the fact that this requires a time period of tens of years. In addition, slow growth and an increase in body weight in captivity are characteristic of any wild species.
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Historical chronicles often mention cases where fishing enthusiasts caught catfish of incredible size, but most often they do not find confirmation on the pages of official documents.
Rumors about the danger of this representative of river predators have a basis; the three-hundred-kilogram giant will not hunt people, meanwhile, some of its species are equipped with sharp spines that are located on the fins and, despite the fact that they are non-poisonous, can pose a danger to human health.
Some sources describe cases of attacks by a monster living in fresh water on waterfowl. At the same time, scientists are inclined to believe that the culprit in this situation is another predator, for example a pike, since it is typical for this type of fish to hunt at night, and during the day they rest, being at great depths.
In recent years, a legend has emerged about incredibly huge mutant catfish living near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. But the reality is that the huge individuals living on the Pripyat River reached such sizes due to the absence of a human exclusion zone on the territory, and radiation exposure did not affect them in any way.
