Jeremy Wade, host of the TV show River Monsters, owns an impressive collection that includes a 280-pound stingray, a man-eating catfish, a giant piranha and a transgender fish.
 |
| Stingrays (Myliobatoidei). With over 30 years of fishing experience, Jeremy Wade travels the world to discover the most exotic freshwater fish. Harder to find than marine fish due to their dark, low-light habitats, many of the monsters in Wade's collection are caught for the first time on camera. Wade shared with All that is interesting about his experience hunting for rare fish. "I caught this fish in Argentina, on the Paraná River. Stingrays are generally not fatal, unless you step on them, they will stab you in the leg. It's purely a self-defense instinct. As you can see, they are quite good at camouflage." "I estimate the weight of this fish at around 127 kg. It was the fish that took me the longest to conquer, nearly 4 hours of wrestling. There is no trick to catching a stingray, you just use a very heavy object and try to break the venomous spines under its body." |
 |
| Congo tigerfish (Hydrocynus goliath). "I found this fish in the middle part of the Congo River system, which is not visited by many people from the outside world, so most people don't know about it. It's related to the piranha. It's actually a giant piranha, growing to the size of an adult human. Its teeth are three centimeters long, about the size of a 454 kg great white shark." |
 |
| Marmorata eel (Anguilla marmorata). "This fish was caught in Fiji. Eels are very interesting. They are one of the few fish that can live in both fresh and salt water, migrating back and forth between the two. Many people know that salmon swim into rivers to spawn, but freshwater eels do the opposite. They live in rivers but swim out to sea to spawn. No one knows for sure where they go." "There are rumors that marmorata will grab people, that's why I went there to find out. I think they might grab people, but many fish do that because they don't know what they're attacking. If they don't have good vision in the water, they just see something in front of them and mistake it for a small fish. Sometimes it can be someone's foot, but they don't know." |
 |
| Largetooth sawfish (Pristidae). "This is a largetooth sawfish that lives in freshwater. It is 2.1 metres long and is a juvenile. This species can grow up to 6 metres long, but adults have never been seen because they live in the ocean. I caught this fish in West Australia. Largetooth sawfish were once widely distributed around the world, but their numbers have declined rapidly because they are easily caught in fishing nets. Rather than bother removing the fish, fishermen often choose to kill them." |
 |
| Freshwater anchovy (Aplodinotus grunniens). "These fish live in Guyana, on the northern edge of South America. They make a gurgling sound underwater, second only to howler monkeys. If you heard it on a boat, it would sound like you were sitting on a boiling kettle and you might think you were hallucinating." |
 |
| River catfish (Bagarius yarrelli). "This fish comes from India, living in the foothills of the Himalayas, in a tributary of the Ganges. I've heard stories of people disappearing after being pulled into the water by strange objects. There are no crocodiles, pythons, river dolphins or bull sharks, so this fish is the most likely candidate." "The river water is very muddy, so these fish grab anything that moves in front of them. They will grab it, then turn around and dive deep underwater. You won't be able to escape from the mouth of a river catfish because, unlike other catfish, they have very long, sharp teeth and strong jaws." |
 |
| Giant barb (Catlocarpio siamensis). "This fish is native to Thailand. Normally, giant barb fish have their mouths hanging down because they feed on the river bottom, but this one seems to have an upside down mouth, evidence that it feeds in mid-stream, or possibly at the surface. Giant barbs are very large, they can grow to over 70 kg." |
 |
| Lamprey (Petromyzontiformes). "This fish lives in Lake Champlain, bordering Vermont and New York, USA. This is a primitive fish. It has no backbone and no teeth, only a sucker mouth with a ring of teeth inside. In the middle of the sucker mouth is a tongue and on the tongue there are also teeth. They often feed by clinging to the skin of other fish and sucking out the body fluids." "I once let a lamprey cling to my neck to experience that feeling. Its sucker mouth is very strong and just two seconds later, the teeth start to pierce your skin. When you pull it out, you will lose a piece of skin." |
 |
| The water tigerfish (Salminus brasiliensis). "I caught this fish in a river between Argentina and Uruguay. They have very large and powerful teeth and jaw muscles. There we heard a story about a young man who had lost part of his testicles and this fish was definitely the culprit. Again, I have to confirm that the animal had no intention of attacking, but had poor vision. When it saw something moving in the water, it simply lunged and bit." |
 |
| Ray-finned fish (Lepisosteus osseus). "This fish lives in Lake Champlain. They are very ancient fish. They can come to the surface and gulp air, which allows them to live in water with little oxygen. This is a survival mechanism that allows them to live in conditions that other fish cannot live in. They are not dangerous to humans, but in the United States there is a larger ray-finned fish called Alligator Gar that weighs at least 300 pounds and there are frequent reports of bite victims." |
 |
| Queensland grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus). "I was hunting for bull sharks and accidentally caught this fish in the mouth of the Brisbane River, Australia. Groupers are one of the few species that can change sex from female to male. In the case of one male and several females, if the male is taken away or dies, the largest female will become the male." |
 |
| European catfish (Silurus glanis). "This fish lives in Europe and I caught the fish in the photo in Spain. It weighed 73 kg and was 2.1 m long. Its bite is easily recognizable because the small teeth are close together, forming a slightly curved line about 25 cm long. The interesting thing about this fish is that they bite people even when the water is clear and they know that people are there. This is because they are very protective of their nests. If someone swims too close to the nest, they will bite to warn them. For the victims, the experience is quite scary because of the pain and surprise." |
According to VnExpress
