The world's biggest freshwater fish ever recorded - a stingray weighing an impressive 300kg - has been caught by Cambodian villagers on the Mekong River.
The 13 foot long beast, christened Boramy, which means "full moon" in the Kmer language, a nod to her bulbous shape, took around a dozen men to haul to shore.
She was released back into the river after bein electronically tagged to allow scientists - who have confirmed her as a record breaker - to monitor her movement and behaviour.
"This is very exciting news because it was the world's largest fish," said biologist Zeb Hogan, ex-host of the "Monster Fish" show on the National Geographic Channel and now part of a conservation project on the river.
"It is also exciting news because it means that this stretch of the Mekong is still healthy.... It is a sign of hope that these huge fish still live [here]."
Boramy, netted last week off Koh Preah, an island along the northern Cambodian stretch of the river, took the record from a 293 kg giant catfish that was caught upstream in northern Thailand in 2005.
The Mekong has the third-most diverse fish population in the world, according to its River Commission, though overfishing, pollution, saltwater intrusion and sediment depletion have caused stocks to plummet.
In other news, as reported in the Mirror last week, a man fishing off the coast of Jersey was shocked to discover he'd caught an enormous common octopus "with suckers as big as 50 pence pieces".
Fishing enthusiast Chris Rushton pulled in the creature, which weighed a whopping 18lbs, while enjoying a spot of fishing off the south-west coast of Jersey.
The Wiltshire resident, who was visiting the island on a work trip and had a day off, was on board the charter vessel Anna III on Tuesday when the catch was made, as reported in the Jersey Evening Post.
After taking a few photos of the impressive beast, Chris returned the octopus safely to the sea.
Chris, who also fishes competitively, told the Jersey Evening Post: "I had a day off and decided to go fishing, which I do a lot of back home. I didn’t think it was an octopus when we first hooked it and when it came up out of the water everyone went “wow”.
"Including the legs, it was a good couple of metres. We weighed him, took a quick picture and returned him safely to the water, where he dived back down."
Anna III’s skipper, Tony Heart, said the suckers on the octopus were as big as 50 pence pieces.
He added the crew were all very surprised by the size of the animal, and that in 30 years they've been charter fishing the team have only seen one other octopus which weighed about a pound.
