A local fisherman in Cambodia has caught a river monster that scientists believe is the world’s largest freshwater fish.

Moul Thu, 42, caught a giant manta ray weighing 661 pounds and measuring 13 feet long, breaking the previous record for catfish, discovered in Thailand in 2005, reaching speed 646 pounds.

Stingrays, called ‘Boramy’ or ‘fυll mooп’ in Khmer, have flooded into the Mekong River, which is famous for many large fish species.

A team of scientists from the Wonders of Mekong research project helped tag, measure and weigh the stingray before releasing it back into the river.

A local fisherman in Cambodia caught a river monster that scientists believe is the world’s largest freshwater fish.

Tags that emit acoustic signals will allow experts to monitor the behavior of stingrays in the large river – which flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The device will send the tracking format for the following year.

The Mekong River is home to many species of giant freshwater fish, but environmental pressure is increasing.

In particular, scientists fear that a major dam-building program in coming years could cause severe fertility decline.

Mol Thu, 42, caught a giant manta ray that weighed 661 pounds and was 13 feet long.

Stingrays, called ‘Boramy’ or ‘fυll mooп’ in Khmer, have been flooded into the Mekong River, which is famous for many large fish species

Wonders of the Mekong leader Zeb Hogan told AFP: ‘Large fish species globally are under threat. They are highly valuable species. They take a long time to mature. So if they are caught before they are mature, they will not have a chance to reproduce.

‘A lot of these large fish are migratory, so they need large areas to survive. They are affected by things like habitat fragments from dams, which are clearly affected by overfishing.

‘So about 70% of giant freshwater fish globally are threatened with extinction, as are all Mekong species.’

Hoganп has been attempting to document ‘big fish’ for nearly 20 years, traveling around the world in hopes of seeing these rare creatures for himself.

However, much of his work is based on stories told by local fishermen who claimed to have seen river manta rays for the first time – but that all changed on December 13 when the fish Giant manta ray captured.

A team of scientists from the Wonders of Mekong research project helped tag, measure and weigh the stingray before releasing it back into the river.

After Thu caught the record fish, he quickly warned the scientists who were on the river in just a few hours.

The team scooped the giant fish onto a large tarpaulin, attracted a crowd of people to the river and began dragging it from the bottom up to the tail.

The fish was then placed on three scales to measure its weight.

Stingrays are said to have good health and are also the species of rays commonly raised in the Mekong region.

‘The giant manta ray is a poorly understood fish. Its name, even its scientific name, has changed many times in the past 20 years, said Hoganп, who is also a fish biologist at the University of Nevada.

‘It’s for Southeast Asia, but we almost have enough information about it. We don’t know its life history. We don’t know about its ecology, about its migration patterns.’

In addition to the joy of catching the record breaker, the lucky fisherman was also paid the market price, meaning he received a sum of about $600.