biggest ever rod-caught freshwater fish

[Richard B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... ngray.html

Quite impressive!

[L number Banana]

OMG!
Glad they put her back Didn't know they were so endangered.

[fischkringli]

I dont want to think about what happened if this ray would stang you . I have often sen rays in germany, where I live, and they are up to half a meter, but this monster...

[charles101]

quite impressive indeed richard
did you wath the programme monster fish of the amazon? apparentley these can grow even larger!

[worton[pl]]

Simply beautiful creature .
There is no need to be afraid of a sting ;).
They are really not aggressive if not bothered too much.

Regards.

[DutchFry]

haha worton, go and tell steve irwin

beautiful stingray, really a monster!

[sidguppy]

yeah, welll....steve was a really nice guy, loved animals and all

and Australia Zoo is THE most animal friendly zoo I've ever seen (yes, I've been there, even saw Steve, was in 2004)

but he also got close, way too close to animals. we saw a tape with uncensored bloopers while in the van to the zoo, and he is bitten, chopped up, stung, poisoned, whacked, grabbed, smashed, mauled, teared up and kicked about a million times.

once he got famous the whole animal kingdom now has this bladder trembling sensation when some sunburned mate in khaki shorts pops up, jumps straight on them and starts doing this highly "hands-on approach" to watching animals.

it was like "WOW, look at this stingray, ain't he gorgeous, wowsa,if I stick my fist up his arse, he's gonna be really pissed" and WHAMMO things got bad and went downhill fast......

I''ve both snorkeled (Sharm Al Sheikh, Red Sea; several islands of Galapagos) and dived (Koh Tao, Great Barrier Reef) with Stingrays, gotten really close, but they don't do nasty stuff if you remenber 2 things: don't touvh them and don't swim closely on top of or above them!!

at one occasion I even rested myself on the sand, nose to nose with a beautiful Blue Spotted Stingray; we were like 2 feet apart or so. just don't harass it, move slowly, stay around it, give it ample room to swim away and you'll be fine.

Steve was a good guy, he's missed, but if I'm honest, well, I thing Sir David Attenborough is a wee bit more careful and animal-friendly as well ;)

[apistomaster]

The National Geographic cable channel has run shows about both the Giant Mekong cats and Mekong Fresh water Rays.
They interviewed fishermen claiming much larger specimens were in the river system. This is one of the few times where I would believe what a fisherman told me. (Takes one to know one.)
The chances of finding out how large they can grow diminishes all the time. Between the Hydroelectric Dams interrupting seasonal migration, gill nets spread across the entire width of this great river and the fact that these large fish bring a small fortune to a resident fisherman does not bode well for their future.

One would have to have long legs to accidentally wade in on a Giant Ray settled on the bottom of the main channel. Kind of creepy.
I know that there are White Sturgeon living in the Snake River in the wild undammed section through Hell's Canyon, deepest Canyon in North America along the border between the states of Idaho and Oregon/Washington that always haunted me when going swimming as a kid. A 1500 pounds, 11 feet long fish under a kid swimming was a daunting thought. What if one decided to even just gently taste my foot,then letting go some 60 feet under water after figuring out it couldn't swallow the whole? Only way a fish has to really test things is to try.

[L number Banana]

Sir David Attenborough is a wee bit more careful and animal-friendly as well ;)

And women ADORE him. Er, speaking for one anyway....
Womder if he's as charming in person? Classy guy, the David Suzuki of the UK.

What if one decided to even just gently taste my foot..

the image is priceless

[Richard B]

Sir David Attenborough is a wee bit more careful and animal-friendly as well ;)

And women ADORE him. Er, speaking for one anyway....
Womder if he's as charming in person? Classy guy, the David Suzuki of the UK.

What if one decided to even just gently taste my foot..

the image is priceless

I had the pleasure of meeting Sir David Attenborough many, many years ago (During the "Life on Earth" series) he certainly IS extremely charming & very down to earth - a real gent!