Gigantic, 9.4-foot-long catfish is the largest ever caught

Alessandro Biancardi poses with his massive catch, a 9.4-foot-long wels catfish, on the banks of the River Po. — Wels catfish (*Silurus glanis*) thrive within the heat waters of the River Po in Italy. (Picture credit score: Alessandro Biancardi)

Whiskered, marble-skinned giants lurk within the murky waters of Italy’s longest river. These behemoths are prized targets for anglers, however a fisher not too long ago hooked a really colossal particular person — and it might be the largest ever discovered.

Alessandro Biancardi, an Italian angler, pulled an infinite, 9.4-foot-long (2.85 meters) catfish from the shallow waters of the River Po within the Lombardy area of northern Italy. The catch beats the earlier world report for the biggest wels catfish (Silurus glanis) ever caught by 1.6 inches (4 centimeters).

“When it surfaced for the primary time, I actually realized that I hooked a monster,” Biancardi wrote in a assertion. “I used to be alone going through the largest catfish I [have] ever seen in 23 years.”

Associated: Extraordinarily uncommon, bright-yellow catfish caught within the Netherlands

When Biancardi landed the behemoth, he and his colleagues measured it earlier than releasing it into the river. “Documentation was despatched to the IGFA [International Game Fish Association] so they might formally report this massive fish,” in accordance with the assertion.

A close up picture of the humongous catfish's head and mouth, held open by a pair of hands.

The big fish may break the earlier report for the biggest wels catfish ever caught by 1.6 inches. (Picture credit score: Alessandro Biancardi)

Wels catfish are the biggest freshwater fish in Europe, excluding species that migrate inland from the ocean to breed, often called anadromous species. The prized fish are native to Central and Jap Europe however have been launched to different components of the continent within the final 25 years, with populations mushrooming in main rivers throughout Italy, France and Spain.

The River Po, which meanders throughout northern Italy and thru the cities of Turin and Piacenza, is a hotspot for very massive catfish.

The final record-breaking catch, a 9.2-foot-long (2.81 m) wels catfish, was additionally pulled from the Po on April 12.

“Wels catfish had been launched within the River Po round 2000,” Per Larsson, a visiting professor at Linnaeus College in Sweden who research predatory fishes, instructed Stay Science in an e mail. “When a fish species (like wels catfish) is launched into a brand new, appropriate setting, the expansion is excessive.”

Larsson has studied wels catfish populations of their northernmost habitat in Sweden, the place these animals have a lot slower development charges than in additional southern areas as a result of colder local weather.

In a 2022 examine printed within the journal Scientific Stories, Larsson and his colleagues documented a 6.4-foot-long (1.95 m) particular person — the largest amongst a complete of 1,183 catfish caught — which they estimated to be 70 years outdated.

Alessandro Biancardi poses with the catfish on the banks of the River Po.

The not too long ago caught catfish might be someplace between 20 and 30 years outdated. (Picture credit score: Alessandro Biancardi)

However catfish caught in hotter European areas are often a lot youthful than that. The not too long ago caught wels catfish might be 20 to 30 years outdated, Larsson estimated, however “a fish of the dimensions that was caught in River Po could be round 100 years outdated in Sweden.”

Excessive temperatures, an acceptable setting and loads of meals may have contributed to the humongous measurement of this fish, Larsson added.

Nonetheless, the River Po is drying up for the second 12 months working resulting from declines in snowfall that often replenish it within the heat summer season months, which may spell bother for gigantic fish. Originally of April, water ranges had been as little as they’d been in the summertime of 2022, when excessive drought revealed an unexploded WWII-era bomb on the Po riverbanks.

It’s unclear how drought will have an effect on wels catfish, however the launched species could do higher than the native Adriatic sturgeon (Acipenser naccarii), which catfish have virtually solely eradicated.

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