Another impressively large freshwater fish that was recently caught seems to have blown the Arapaima record out of the water - the Giant Mekong catfish (Pangasius gigas). The fish in the photo below was captured by some fisherman in Thailand where the species is considered endangered, but can still be caught with special permits. The fish was turned in to the Department of Fisheries where the eggs and sperm are collected from these rare giants and harvested for a captive breeding program to keep the species alive.

This giant catfish caught in May of 2005 was 9 feet long and weighed 646 lbs. This is more than 5 times bigger than the 'world record' catfish caught in North America.

This giant catfish inhabits the waters of the Mekong River in China, which flows southward into Southeast Asia. This fish is found as far south as Cambodia and Thailand where it is known as Pla Buk, which means simply "huge fish".The dimensions of these catfish are very impressive, with the largest supposedly growing up to 10ft/3m and weighing up to 660lbs/300kg.