Big fish have always impressed people.The capture of a huge specimen caused a stir and was necessarily documented. Surely every angler photo of the biggest fish, which he happened to catch, hang at home in a prominent place. But even the most incredible trophies of domestic anglers will not be able to compete with the giants from the depths of the sea.
The largest fish in existence onToday is the whale shark, or Rhincodon typus. Standard individuals reach 10–12 meters in length, and there are data on twenty-meter specimens that were encountered by the scientist. Despite the awe-inspiring scale, the whale shark poses no danger to humans and other marine life. It practically does not react to divers who touch its hull.
Rhincodon typus feeds exclusively on krill andplankton, which is extracted from water using a special filtering apparatus. The maximum speed of the ocean giant does not exceed five kilometers per hour. Almost all the time the shark spends on the surface of the water. Reducing the number of these peaceful ocean monsters is a serious problem. Despite the complete ban on fishing for whale sharks, the recovery of the population is very slow, and environmental scientists fear that such a species may disappear completely from the face of the earth.
The heaviest bone representative of the oceanis moonfish (lat. Mola mola). Individuals reach three meters in length and weighs about one and a half tons, which is comparable to the weight of the Toyota Camry. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the most weighty specimen of moon-fish was caught in 1908 off the coast of Sydney. With a length of 4.26 meters, it reached 2,235 kilograms in weight. Dwells record in tropical and temperate oceanic latitudes. The geography of the “residence” of fish is quite wide: from the Indian Ocean to the islands of the Great Kuril Ridge. Often, fish-moon is seen off the coast of Canadian Newfoundland and Iceland. Mola mola was noted with one more world achievement, this time quantitative, because it was recognized as the most prolific fish. The female is capable of spraying up to three hundred million eggs. Despite this, the total fish population is not very large.
However, the ocean is not the only place wherebig fish. Of course, freshwater representatives of marine heavyweights are inferior to the ocean in size, but they are also able to impress a person. The biggest fish caught in freshwaters is the giant catfish from the Mekong, which in Cambodia was called the “king of fish”. Caught catfish weighed 292 kilograms and was also listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
Способен кого угодно впечатлить размерами giant freshwater stingray. Some specimens reach almost 600 kilograms in weight. Unfortunately, it can be found less and less often due to the reduction in habitat and uncontrolled capture. In Thailand, it is classified as an endangered species.
Very large fish are found in Russia. The “queen” of freshwater is the beluga. Its three-meter dimensions are due to longevity: beluga live for 100-115 years.
Quite often come from different parts of the world.messages about the new record. However, they are rarely confirmed in fact. Big fishes caught by fishing vessels cause great surprise. And often, being under the impression of what they see, people decide that this is the biggest fish that the world has ever seen.
