A fisherman caught a 2.85 meter long catfish in Lombardy, breaking all records. Because the predatory fish is four centimeters longer than the previous record holder.
“When he first appeared I realized I had a real monster on my hook,” said fisherman Alessandro Biancardi, 23.
Measure and discard
And with that, he became ambitious to pull the giant catfish out of the Po River. It took Biancardi a whopping 40 minutes to pull the predatory fish ashore to measure it against colleagues.
They then released the catfish back into the wild – probably not entirely selflessly, because the fish continues to grow throughout its life and this may give Biancardi another chance to set a new record with the same catfish.
Experts estimate the captive specimen to be about 20 to 30 years old. Catfish can live more than 80 years, so there is still plenty of time to grow.
Catfish are getting bigger and bigger
The European catfish is the largest pure freshwater fish in Europe. Originally it was mainly found in Central and Eastern Europe, but in the past 25 years it has also found a new home in southern countries. Since the predominantly nocturnal and twilight-active predatory fish has also established itself in northern Italy, considerably large specimens have been caught in the Po River again and again.
Source: Krone
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