Hunt for the Mega Fish!

5 years ago Nature

Zeb Hogan,a biologist from the University of Reno has launched the Mega Fish project in conjunction with the National Geographic Society, in a last ditch attempt to save "the real-life Loch Ness monsters and Bigfoots of the aquatic world."

freshwater stingray by environmental graffiti, a UK based environmental blog

Various giant freshwater fish species are perilously close to extinction. Far more than smaller species, they have been decimated by fishing, pollution and dams.

"From the point of view of the fish, there's nothing worse than a dam.”

Says Hogan.

“Dams block upstream migration, destroy spawning habitat, and can turn large stretches of river into ecological wastelands."

Many of these species are simply massive. The Chinese Paddlesfish, which lives in the Yangtze River weighs half a tonne and can grow to a length of seven and a half metres, whilst the Giant Freshwater Stingray has a diameter of up to three metres.

Written by: tom lyttelton

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Comments

Old Comments

tanya says

Apr 29th, 2009 at 12am
hi what is that it is creepy is it some kind of sting ray

Mew says

Feb 27th, 2009 at 12am
Dude, is its eyeballs out of its head??

Ash says

Feb 26th, 2009 at 12am
Isn't it strange that the human (not all of us) kill anything that's big just to have their picture taken with it? Take for example sharks; you see some moron 'sports fishermen' catching a big shark just to have a trophy and not even wondering 'geez thats a big shark probably rare thse days, I will let it go' but no instead lets torture the poor fish while trying to catch it for 1 hour or so and then haul it on the dock and get my picture taken. What have we become as a race is pure shame. We will kill ourselves one day when there is no more more or a big worldwide shortage. We have already started overpopulating this planet and food supplies are already running short. We will deplete the ocean, the soil will lose it's productivity due to excessive fertilizers and chemicals and we will start contracting all kinds of diseases. All this to say that most humans have no respect for wildlife. This stingray was probably a rare big one and their population is already shrinking due to over fishing. We cant just watch something beautiful and powerful we have to kill it for pleasure. Shame on us as a race. And before i get any hippy, tree hugger comments, I'm none of those . I'm just a concerned citizen of this planet watching it being destroyed by the dominant species and that saddens me.

penske says

Jul 26th, 2007 at 12am
I don't believe bigfoot lives in the aquatic world.