125kg catfish netted in Uttarakhand’s Ramganga
HALDWANI: It’s a shark... It’s a whale... It’s a catfish, weighing an estimated 125kg and caught illegally in the Ramganga river near Corbett national park in Uttarakhand.
But the freshwater monster, probably the biggest catfish ever found in Himalayan rivers, became dinner before it could be weighed on a certified scale and measured.
Wildlife officials came to know of Monday’s catch after watching videos and photos of the fish tethered to a bamboo pole with a thick plastic rope and hauled by two men on their shoulders in Almora district’s Manila village.
“The fish could not be weighed as the villagers ate it. Based on people’s description, we think it will be around 125kg,” Almora divisional forest officer SR Prajapati said.
That’s heavier than the ubiquitous 100cc motorcycles in India and twice the weight of its species: Himalayan catfishes of the Asian genus, bagarius bagrius, which grow up to 70 kilos. “The weight of the fish is unusual,” said JA Johnson of the Wildlife Insti- tute of India in Dehradun.
“Locally known as goonch, the species lives in large pools and is a carnivore. During monsoon, it migrates upstream to spawn.”
It was a feast for the eyes as villagers took selfies and videos of the giant and uploaded them on social media. These were shared extensively and soon enough reached the cell phones of wildlife enthusiasts, experts and officials.
Close-ups of the fish’s large, bony head with moustachelike barbells more than a foot long show it gasping for air and wriggling.