A 14-foot long stingray, weighing approximately 800 pounds and measuring 7.9 feet across was caught in Thailand’s Mae Klong River last week. It’s the largest stingray ever observed by researchers.
Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin was on hand to witness the whole thing and snapped the pic. According to veterinarian Nantarika Chansue, it’s the same stingray she tagged in 2009.
The ray (Himantura polylepis or H. chaophraya) was 7.9 feet (2.4 meters) across and 14 feet (4.3 meters) long and weighed an estimated 700 to 800 pounds (318 to 363 kilograms), she said via e-mail.
The team was unable to get an exact weight because “it’s really hard to weigh these things without hurting them, because they are such big, awkward animals,” says Zeb Hogan, a National Geographic fellow and a professor of biology at the University of Nevada, Reno.
“Certainly [this] was a huge fish, even compared to other giant freshwater stingrays, and definitely ranks among the largest freshwater fish in the world,” he says.
Um, this line right here: “The team was unable to get an exact weight because “it’s really hard to weigh these things without hurting them, because they are such big, awkward animals.”
Yeah, you think? It basically looks like a large dinner table in that pic. By the way, the ray is pregnant with two babies. How one has sex with an 800-pound stingray is beyond my level of understanding.
Here is that same stingray in 2009:
As always, the debate continues here on UPROXX: Are you #TeamOcean or #TeamDryLand?
[BroBible]