The end of the mythical giant catfish

Abstract

AbstractThe European catfish Silurus glanis is the largest freshwater fish (excluding anadromous species) in Europe. Its measurements raise many concerns about its potential impact on recipient ecosystems and fish communities and also feed many rumors and fantasies. It is largely accepted that the largest individual ever caught was 5 m long and weighed 306 kg. This information has been reported in the scientific literature for at least a century and is now reported in numerous specialized Web sites. In this manuscript, we test the hypothesis that such a huge European catfish specimen, and other specimens of similar size, have never existed. We demonstrate inconsistency between the reported record body dimensions and the normal species length: weight ratio established from growth curves in several European sites. We examined the original picture of the record specimen and concluded this record specimen is likely misidentification of a sturgeon. At the present time, the accurate largest individual of Silurus glanis was caught in the Rhône River in Southern France and measured 2.73 m and weighed 130 kg. Although still a very impressive megafish, it is nevertheless much smaller than this mythical European catfish.