(Photo: University of Nevada, Reno)

UNR prof catches 7-foot catfish in Cambodia

Reno Gazette-Journal | 12 November 2015

A University of Nevada, Reno biology professor has a big fish story to tell, except this time the size wasn’t an exaggeration.

According to a news release from the university, Zeb Hogan has been studying the Cambodian native Mekong giant catfish for more than 20 years. During the Nov. 9 Cambodian Independence Day near Phnom Penh, Hogan had the pleasure of being on-site for the first catch of the season for the elusive species.

“This is really extraordinary,” Hogan said. “It confirms that this incredibly rare and critically endangered freshwater species still occurs in Cambodia and it is still making its annual spawning migration out of the Tonle Sap Lake and into the Mekong River.”

Hogan said in the release the specimen measured at just under 7 feet in length, larger than any catfish caught in the last 100 years in the United States.

The fish holds considerable importance in several Cambodian ceremonies according to a statement in the release from Thatch Phanara, a biologist with the Cambodian Department of Fisheries.

“The giant catfish holds a special place in Cambodian culture,” Phanara said. “Fishermen sprinkled water on it to wish it good luck.”

The catfish is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Hogan and officials from the Cambodian Department of Fisheries tagged and released the creature downstream from fishing nets.

“The Mekong Giant Catfish was once caught by the thousands,” Hogan said. “But it’s so rare now that the survival of every fish makes a difference; survival of migrating adults is especially important. With ongoing changes happening on the Mekong River that may cause the extinction of the giant catfish, measures to study and protect these fish are more important than ever.”

Hogan is also a National Geographic Explorer and hosts “Monster Fish” on the Nat Geo WILD channel. He made the catch just days before the Nov. 14 opening of his exhibit “Monster Fish: In Search of the Last River Giants” at the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum.

“The catch shows why the exhibition is important: to take what we learn in the field and share it with millions, including, now, people locally in Reno and the Western United States,” Hogan said.