“This is a fish that had been on Earth for more than 100 million years before disappearing in a flash,” says Hogan, who used to host National Geographic’s “ Monster Fish” television show and now leads a University of Nevada, Reno, research project I am involved with called Wonders of the Mekong, supported by the U.S. One of the largest species, the Chinese paddlefish, is believed to have gone extinct sometime in the 2000s. “Here we have a species that runs a risk of being the first species in the Mekong River to go extinct,” said Hogan.

Hogan, a UC Davis researcher, has spent three years tracking giant catfish in Cambodia.

Zeb Hogan, left, tags a 400-pound giant catfish that was caught in fishing nets on the Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh, Nov.

Megafish numbers in particular fell by a shocking 94%, according to one study of more than 200 large freshwater species. In a new book, “ Chasing Giants: In Search of the World’s Largest Freshwater Fish,” Hogan and I tell the troubling story of the 30 or so fish species that live exclusively in rivers and lakes and can grow to more than 200 pounds or at least 6 feet (1.8 meters) long.įound on all continents except Antarctica, they are a wonderfully weird bunch of creatures, from colossal catfish and carp to gargantuan gars.īut freshwater vertebrate populations have declined over the past five decades at twice the rate experienced by species within terrestrial or marine ecosystems.

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