127kg Monster Catfish Caught in Italy

Local Editor

The giant fish, which weighed 20 stone [127kg], was caught by twin brothers Dino and Dario Ferrari in northern Italy.

With its huge, gaping mouth, it looks big enough to swallow a person whole.
Believed to be one of the largest of its kind ever caught, the creature was pulled from the river on Feb 19 with a rod and line after a battle lasting 40 minutes.

The nine foot-long creature, a Wels catfish, had been dubbed "the monster of the Po" by the Italian media.

After catching, weighing and photographing it, the brothers released it back into the river, which flows across northern Italy to the Adriatic.

"It's a silurus glanis [the Latin name for the species]," Dino Ferrari said. "The American catfish doesn't grow to such large dimensions - at most it can weigh 50kg."
He estimated the fish to be about 30 years old, based on its size, adding that the species could live for up to 50 years.

Ferrari explained, "They don't range over very large distances; they tend to live in the same stretch of river, moving just a few kilometers either way. They eat all types of fish."

"To catch them you need a lot of patience but also physical strength. We fought for 40 minutes to reel it in. We tired it out and then lifted it out of the water" he added.
The Wels catfish lives in fresh and brackish water. It is native to Eastern Europe and parts of Asia but was introduced to Western Europe.

The fish preyed on other fish, as well as worms, crustaceans, frogs and water fowl.
"Who knows, maybe we will manage to catch it again in a year's time, and it will be even more gigantic," said Ferrari.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team