Thirteen grown men were recruited to heave it out of the water. The ray smashed the previous record of 646lbs for a huge catfish caught in 2005. Ian, an 11.5 stone freshwater biologist, had been visiting Thailand to help with a stingray tagging programme when he landed the monster from the deep on the Maeklong River. The 45-year-old said he was nearly pulled over the side of the fishing boat when the specimen took his bait, which was a snakehead fish.
It's body was 7ft long and 7ft wide its tail measured 10ft. Its lethal venomous barb had to be wrapped in cloth while it was out of the water. The group managed to put a 12ft wide net under the fish and towed it to the bank. Ian added: 'It took 13 people to lift it into a large paddling pool we had set up in order to tag it and take DNA samples.'
